Mass Effect: Superhuman
by dakk55
Summary: OC, Slight AU: What if John Shepard had a younger brother and that younger brother was experimented on by Cerberus? What if that brother doesn't even remember his own childhood? OC/Tali.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Yeah, this is my first typed chapter for my Fanfiction, hope it isn't too bad.**

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><p>Chapter 1: Prologue<p>

Third Person Perspective

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><p>The figure in the dark sighs as he took a deep inhale of his cigarette, taking a moment to snuff it out in an ashtray next to him. He slowly raises his glass filled with unknown liquid, slowly taking a sip of it. An soft beep resonances throughout the unknown room as the figure sat down on his chair and pressed an unseen command onto his holoboard next to his chair. An hologram powers on and another figure appears in front of the mysterious man, the first man takes a glance at the visitor and began to speak.<p>

"Dakkben, I trust that you have accepted the invitation?" the man calmly said, albeit without emotion.

"I have not accept your invitation to rejoin Cerberus, but I am curious in what you have to say" the second man, identified as Dakkben replied.

"Pity you won't rejoin, but it is acceptable that you are willing to hear me out first." the first man said, taking another slow sip of his glass.

"Yes..." Dakkben replied flatly.

"Now, Dakkben. I have an assignment for you. It isn't the exactly the kind of mission you are accustomed to but I have faith in your resourcefulness." The mysterious man said.

Dakkben's eyebrow raised, confused, "What is it?" he simply asked.

"You are to be relocated to Eden Prime's 212 unit." the mysterious man said to Dakkben.

"Why?" Dakkben questioned as he crossed his arms.

This amused the mysterious man slightly as he stood up and took another step closer to Dakkben, his mechanical blue eyes visible.

_"Looking in those inhuman eyes sure always makes even cold hearted veterans cringe sometimes" _Dakkben thought to himself, wondering what the man would say or do.

"Ahhh, rest assured, Dakkben. We have reliable sources from deep within the Shadow Broker's organization that indicates that Eden Prime will be attacked within three months by the Geth worshiping the very deathly machines that wiped out the Protheans before our time. I intend to put you on Eden Prime to keep as much survivors alive as possible. From there, when you find another Alliance Marines from the ship known as the Normandy, do whatever it takes to join the crew of that ship, then help the crew to the best of your abilities" the man said to Dakkben as he slowly turns around to observe the always fascinating star display behind him.

"What's in it for me?" Dakkben said as he glares at the man.

The man seemed to be unfazed, as if he was expecting this. The man only replied "When you complete this mission, I will personally make sure that you will receive the proper procedures to regain your lost memories. I understand that we both had our differences in the past when you left Cerberus after the Factory event. But, we both agree that the bigger threats are the Reapers, for now, we work together to survive."

Dakkben only sighed before replying "Fine, Illusive Man. Remember this, I might have been a Cerberus experiment, but I am an Alliance Marine at heart. If you betray me in any way, I will hunt you down."

The Illusive Man gave a slight nod as the hologram of Dakkben fizzles out of existence.

Another voice rang out, although this voice was different, feminine with noticeable Australian accent. "Are you sure, sir? Granted he is exceptional when it comes to surviving the missions where it IS practically suicide to even attempt, but, something like this?".

The Illusive Man turned to face the source of the voice, a beautiful woman wearing a skintight outfit revealing her 'assets' along with the standout logo of the Cerberus organization plus her high heels, which never ceases to amaze how this Cerberus Officer could go in battle wearing high heels. He only gives her a slight nod to acknowledge her statement.

"Understood, however, it won't be a problem, he has a great deal of motivation to make sure he completes his assignment." The Illusive Man calmly remarked as he moved to take out another cigarette to put it in his mouth and lit it with an antique lighter with his another hand.

"Yes sir. What about the procedure, sir?" the woman asked as she glances over to the hologram where the figure of Dakkben used to be.

"A necessary lie, Officer Lawson. There is no such procedure to restore memories repressed by trauma, only one true way to restore it is for the person himself to see or realize something from his past." the Illusive Man said as he took a deep inhale of his cigarette.

On the corners of the Illusive Man's mouth, it curved slightly upwards, forming a slight smile. "Ahh, yes, you will remember. But it will be what you were not expecting to remember, after all. Be careful of what you wish for." he said as if he was talking to Dakkben. The Illusive Man sighed as he returned to the various holoboards on his chair, he pulled up an dossier on a N7 Alliance Marine, he looked over it and words were visible amongst the dossier.

**Name: John Shepard**

**Birth Date: April 11 2154**

**Childhood: Colonist. Survived slaver attack by leading several other children to hidden bunker, held slavers at bay despise lack of military training or weapon training. Cerberus infiltrator within Alliance patrol that rescued Shepard along with other children noted that Shepard displayed initial leadership and various useful traits. Mother, Hannah Shepard and father, Josh Shepard was found killed in their residence, evidence suggests Josh killed Hannah first before killing several slavers before himself was killed.**

**Career: War Hero, otherwise known as the Lion of Elysium. Led small group against batarian slavers, despise overwhelming odds and won. Shows further developed traits of leadership, survivability and inspiration. Possible recruit for Cerberus, but moral differences suggests otherwise, need leverage if to be recruited to Cerberus.**

**Relatives: **

**Father-Killed by batarian slavers. (Refer to Josh Shepard Dossier for more details)**

**Mother-Assumed to be killed by Josh in attempt to prevent her capture and eventual abuse. (Refer to Hannah Shepard Dossier for more details)**

**Brother-Found barely alive by Cerberus on board batarian slaver ship that coincidentally attempted to raid a Cerberus ship disguised as a cargo frigate. Found in deteriorated state, suggested that while Cerberus retaliated in a counter attack against the batarian slaver ship, he escaped his cell somehow, killed several guards with his bare hands before being gunned down. Apparently suffers from amnesia due to severe injuries, genetic scans indicate relation and shows that he is perfect for Superhuman Project, shows promise to Cerberus and advances to humanity. Currently in employ of Cerberus, still show lack of childhood knowledge and maintains strained connections. Currently named Dakkben Slade after initial name of Dakkben Project and the head scientist, Dr. Slade. Dakkben Slade proves to be enormous aid and great risk, despise being the only survivor of the Project Dakkben. However, Dr. Slade suggests that most of his abilities are dormant until activated in times of extreme rage or distress, similar to the Krogan Blood Rage, which is why Dakkben survived. Must keep extra caution, however currently researching for new upgrades to allow Dakkben to exert more control over his mostly dormant abilities, and possibly regain control over the test subject. (Refer to Dakkben Slade Dossier and Dakkben Project Archives for more details)**


	2. Arriving to Eden

**Yeah, another chapter so soon. Next chapter should be action packed. BTW you should know several fonts shows different type of process.**

**BOLD - Author's Comments **

_ITALICS - _The person's thoughts, always the person that is narrating.

"QUOTES" - What the person is actually saying. Italics might be used to emphasize certain words, but not all of if like thoughts would do.

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><p>Chapter 2: Arriving to Eden<p>

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><p>Dakkben's Perspective<p>

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><p>As the shuttle's frame softly creaks as I continued to read the datapad I had in my hand about Eden Prime.<p>

_One of first human colonies established beyond the Charon Relay, well suited for Earth native life. One of the most beautiful paradises known to all species. Located on the borders of the Terminus Systems._

I sighed as I closed my data pad and put it away in my pack.

_Still, I'm never going to get used to pretending that Miranda Lawson the cold hearted bitch, my contact to Cerberus, is my sister. _

I look around the inside of the shuttle, I can easily see several other marines, some of which are fresh out of basics training.

_When the attack comes, these guys are going to be slaughtered, looks like I got my work cut out for me. _I thought as I softly chuckled to myself.

The shuttle jolted to a stop and I can hear the airlock door pop open.

"Looks like we're here" I said to myself as I got off my seat, picked up my pack and moved to get out of the shuttle. But before I could get to the airlock, a big, burly man quickly moved to shove me out of the way. I quickly grab one of his arms and twisted it as I quickly got behind him, pinning his arm to his back.

"If you want to keep that arm, I suggest you leave me alone, understood?" I growled at him as I twisted his arm a bit more. The big man let out a slight yelp of pain before nodding yes. I sighed as I let go of his arm, picked my pack back up, then left through the airlock.

I noticed a woman in a pink-white Onyx armor barking orders at other marines.

_She must be the one in charge._ I thought to myself as I walked over to her.

I quickly stopped, dropped my pack and gave her a brief salute.

"Serviceman Slade, reporting for duty, ma'am!" I said. She glanced over to me and sighed as she gave me a brisk salute.

"At ease, serviceman. The barracks is over there" she said as she pointed to the barracks. "Put away your things and report back here at 1400 hours". I gave her another salute in affirmative response and began to head to the barracks.

I found my bunk and began to put my things away when the burly man from the shuttle walked up from behind me and tried to take my pack.

"What is your problem?" I growled at him, pushing him away. He only laughed and tried again, this time, I punched him in the face. I heard loud gasps from other soldiers in the barracks, surprised that a 5 foot 11 would punch a 6 foot 7 mountain of a man. The big man only laughed again "Well, little man, how 'bout we settle this outside, eh?" he said.

_Stupid bastard, I can easily wipe up the floor with him and still fight an army, looks like he's in for a surprise. _"You're on, and you are...?" I said as I pushed him out of my way, careful to not completely floor him to keep my full strength hidden.

"Leroy, little man! Leroy!" he said as he followed me outside, I can see the woman I talked to briefly looking at me. I sighed as I turned to face Leroy only to be punched in the face by a big fist. I quickly allowed myself to fall to the ground and rolled onto my feet. Leroy laughed at me again as he lunged at me, I quickly dodged to the left and punched him in the gut, careful to not punch hard enough to rip through. Leroy was taken off guard by the sudden counterattack and was sprawled on the ground, holding his stomach.

_Wait...is he...crying?_ I thought to as I noticed Leroy was shaking in soft cries. I look up from Leroy to see everyone from the barracks looking at me, shocked. "What?" I said, annoyed. Several murmurs of 'nothing' and 'badass' was heard. I can hear footsteps from behind and turned to face the woman from before. She looked at me with, what can be described as silent surprise.

She smirked softly and said " Nice job, Serviceman, didn't think he would go down in one hit."

I only nodded at her, she gestured me to follow her, so I did.

"I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, by the way. You can call me Ash after what you did. I was actually going over there to kick his ass for insubordination, but since you already took care of that, I'm thinking you should be my second in command seeing how well you handled yourself" she said as she patted me on the shoulder.

I was taken off guard by such statement, but it was a way to gain her trust, so I replied "Thank you ma'-, I mean, Ash" as I gave her a weak smile. "So where are we going? " I asked Ash.

She only smiled as she opened a door to another building, I noticed a sign above the door saying 'Training Facility'. Ash went in, and I quickly followed behind, I saw many exercise equipments, yoga mats, even sparring areas along with reinforced punching bags.

"Like what you see?" Ash said as she began to take off her pink-white Onyx armor.

"Huh? What are you doing Ash?" I said, surprised at Ash's remark.

"We're gonna spar, see if you can hold your own against an experienced soldier, so take off your armor" she replied as she finished taking her armor off, wearing only a navy blue tank top along with blue shorts that reached down to her knees.

"Allright, gimme a min" I sighed as I took my armor off, piece by piece.

_Feels awkward, I'm not even wearing a shirt at all, hope she doesn-_. My train of thought was interrupted as I glanced over to Ash, she was staring!

Feeling a bit awkward as I removed the last pieces of my armor, wearing only my shorts that stretches to my knees.

"Uhh, Ash? Like what you see?" I said. She quickly looked away, I noticed a slight pinkish blush on her cheeks.

"Allright...I'll grab a shirt..." I said as I looked around the room, noticing some spare clothes near the towels, I put it on, it was another tank top, similar to Ash's but bigger to fit on men. I walked back to the sparring area to face her, she looked back to me and gave me a nod.

But before any of us made a move, the door suddenly opened up and many people poured in including officials, trainees, soldiers, even Leroy himself, smirking at me. I sighed as I looked back to Ash in time to quickly dodge her right hook. I took a fighting stance and rapidly moved to do a left jab. She quickly blocked it, big mistake as the power behind the jab caught her by surprise as her whole upper body was twisted by that jab.

_Damn gotta be careful, don't want to blow my cover._

Ash quickly used the momentum to backhand me with her right hand. I only gave her a slight grin as I did a right hook, she dodged it, as expected, she copied what I did to Leroy and tried to uppercut me in the gut. Instead, she only hit air as I twisted around her and got her in a headlock.

"So, are we gonna keep fighting until one of us breaks something?" I asked her. She only gave me a nod as I let her out of the headlock.

"Draw?" she asked. I noticed she said it in an angry tone.

_Maybe trying to save face in front of others?_

"Yup" I said as I outstretched my hand to her. She took it and shook it as I heard the spectators groan as I let go of her hand. I picked up the pieces of my armor and put them on as she did. The others quickly left as we were suiting up, I can feel Ash leaning into my ear "You tell anyone otherwise, I will kill you in your sleep".

I only laughed and replied "Wouldn't dream of it, Ash".

She only smirked in a serious face before saying "Good, don't want them to think I'm going soft, c'mon, I'll show you to your private quarters, and to your new responsibilities" as she led me out of the door. She showed me to my new quarters, told me what to do. Throughout the weeks on Eden Prime, others had grudgingly developed respect, even Leroy learned to behave after I beat him for the 87th time in the sparring sessions. I've made several reports back to Miranda, she seems satisfied that I've been gaining trust and managed a position of responsibility. I've noticed that even Ash seemed to develop a sisterly relationship as we both had respect for each other.

Now...its been three months, I'm not sure if the sources that Illusive Man had was that reliable. But still, I drag myself out of my bunk, put on my armor, but this time, I took a moment to look over it. It was a different design from my original medium armor which had been pitch black with red trim along with Cerberus logo, but this Alliance version of my Cerberus Onyx armor was painted dark gray with navy blue trim. I sighed as I finished putting my armor on, picked my assault rifle, pistol and shotgun and strapped them in their respective places. But as soon as I reached the door, the building shook as sounds of screaming filled my ears. I quickly got my assault rifle out and ran through the door. What I saw shocked me, a massive dreadnought was destroying the colony as colonists tried to flee in terror.

The attack had begun.


	3. Trouble in Eden

**BOLD - Author's Comments**

_ITALICS - _The person's thoughts, always the person that is narrating.

"QUOTES" - What the person is actually saying. Italics might be used to emphasize certain words, but not all of if like thoughts would do.

**Yup, some action at last. I was on a roll and decided to churn out a chapter. Will try to get as much out before the roll turns into a slump. Feedback is appreciated, it IS my first fanfiction after all.**

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><p>Chapter 3: Trouble in Eden<p>

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><p>Dakkben's Perspective<p>

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><p>In that moment, I was both enraged and fearful. I took another look at the massive dreadnought devastating the colony with what seems to be red arcs of energy, not lasers, but something more terrifying. I saw a flash of pink and white to my left, I quickly turned to that direction and saw Ash taking over near an overturned grizzly. I break into a sprint to take cover next to her.<p>

"What the fuck is going on, Ash!" I yell, barely making my voice loud enough to be heard over gunfire.

"We're being invaded by the fucking Geth! That's what!" she yelled back as she popped out of cover to fire on one of the Geth Troopers.

"Did we get a message out for reinforcements?" I replied back as I managed to take down two Geth Troopers before retreating back to cover just as my shields fails.

"I don't know! All communications was disabled in the initial attack!" Ash replied as she rolled out of cover to another building while I fired at the Geth to provide covering fire. She signaled me to move to her position as she moved to provide me covering fire. I ran as fast as I can, easily covering the distance before sliding to a halt to take cover alongside Ash. In almost an instant, I heard the rumbling sound of an Alliance ship, I tapped Ash's shoulder to get her attention, she looked at me, then I pointed in the direction I heard the ship from and say "I think there's a ship over there, we might be able to get reinforcements after all!" She nodded and gave a signal so we both ran in the direction I was pointing at. Several Geth Drones chased us while we were running and I flipped backwards into a slide to shoot the Drones, along with Ash. I saw two Geth Troopers dragging a man, the poor guy was blubbering until I realized it was Leroy! _Shit, poor Leroy, karma's a bitch!_ I turn to see Ash, she was furious! I quickly moved to get Ash's attention before she does something rash. But before I could say anything, Ash suddenly screamed. I turn back to look at the Geth Troopers to see they had tossed Leroy onto some kind of metal spike, impaling him in the gut. The two Geth Troopers immediately turned to our direction and started to fire at us. _Shit! They heard Ash! Shiiiiiiit!_ We both took cover behind a boulder, taking turns to pop out of cover to fire on the Geth, which is immediately joined by several other Geth Troopers. I heard footsteps from behind. _Shit! They flanked us! _I quickly turn behind to shoot, but was surprised to see two Alliance marines, one of which had a N7 insignia on his right side of his armor. _Whoever this guy is, he must be a tough one!_ I signal him to come closer as me and Ash along with two new marines combined our firepower, easily making short work of the Geth Troopers.

I let out an exhale in a sigh, Ash glanced over to me and gave me a nod. She turned to face the N7 marine and said "Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams of the 212. You the one in charge here, sir?"

The N7 marine only replied "Are you wounded, Williams?"

She replied "A few scrapes and burns. Nothing serious. The others weren't so lucky."

The N7 marine glanced over to me and said "How about you, soldier?".

"Fine, considering that everyone else either gunned down or impaled onto those spikes" I replied as I pointed to the metallic spike behind me with Leroy's body impaled onto it. "Oh, yeah. Name's Slade, Serviceman Slade, sir." I added.

Ash said "Oh, man...We were patrolling the perimeter when the attack hit. We tried to get off a distress call, but they cut off our communications. We've been fighting for our lives ever since." I simply nodded along with her statement.

The N7 marine asked "Any idea what kind of enemy we're facing?"

Ash only replied "I think they're Geth".

"Well, flashlight heads are pretty obvious sign isn't it?" I said as I pointed at my own head for emphasis.

The N7 marine chuckled softly as the second marine said "The Geth haven't been seen outside the veil in nearly 300 years. Why are they here now?"

"They must have come for the beacon" Ash replied.

_Oh, right, advanced technology, very valuable, and dangerous in wrong hands._

"The dig site is close. Just over that rise. It might be still there" Ash continued as she pointed in the direction of the dig site.

The N7 marine nodded and said "We could use your help, Williams and Slade".

I gave an affirmative nod and Ash replied "Aye, aye, sir. Its time for payback".

The N7 marine then ordered us to move out.

"Sir? You mind telling us your names though, don't want to know you as 'that N7 marine' you know?" I asked as I moved alongside the N7 marine.

He chuckled softly and replied "Name's John Shepard, he's Kaiden Alenko" as he pointed at the other marine, identified as Kaiden Alenko. I nod as we move further to the dig site.

_John Shepard...isn't he the Lion of Elysium? Huh, he might be the marine the Illusive Man talked about._

As we moved closer to the dig site, we encountered several Geth Troopers. I took cover next to Kaiden, concentrating fire on a Geth Trooper. My shields started failing so I ducked back in cover in time to see Kaiden glowing blue for a brief second before the Geth Trooper I was shooting started floating! I immediately popped out of cover to take out the floating Geth Trooper. I noticed Kaiden was a bit winded.

"You allright, Kaiden?" I asked him.

"F-fine, kid. L2 implants are always a bitch when you overuse for a bit. Shepard's lucky he got L3." he replied as he stood fully upwards, gave a shrug and began to follow Shepard. I followed Kaiden but one thing that stuck. _Kid? Did he call me a kid? _I sighed as we got into the dig site, but there was no beacon.

"This is the dig site. The beacon was right here. It must have been moved." Ash said.

"You think there might be evidence in the research camp if they moved it?" I asked Ash.

She nodded and replied "Maybe, there might be even survivors there too. It's just on the top of the ridge. Up the ramps."

I simply nod in agreement. I heard over the comlinks, a flanged voice ordering Shepard to head to the spaceport. _Is that...? A turian? Doesn't matter _I thought to myself as I shook my head. We arrived at the camp.

"Shit, they hit the camp, hard" I said as Ashley nodded in agreement.

"Its a good place for an ambush. Keep your guard up" Kaiden said from behind. I looked around at the spikes with bodies impaled onto them, some of them still twitching. Suddenly, the metallic spikes retracted and the body of a dead colonist got of an started stumbling towards us. I can hear Kaiden shouting as I shouldered my assault rifle and blasted at the changed colonist roaring at us. It was ripped in half before letting out a gurgle. I can see other metal spikes retracting.

"Guns out! Not friendly! Repeat, not friendly!" I shouted as more of the other changed colonists tried to swarm us.

"What the hell is that!" Kaiden yelled at us while poking the corpse of a dead changed colonists.

"They seems to be colonists, changed somehow into husks of their former selves" I replied as I noticed Shepard signaled us to follow. I simply patted Kaiden on his shoulder and turned to follow Shepard with Kaiden close behind. We noticed the massive dreadnought and I heard Ash say "Its a ship. Look at the size of it!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't match any known Geth designs..." I commented to myself.

_What if...that thing is a Reaper? Aw shit._

The dreadnought slowly raised, arcing red energy and smoke as it left the atmosphere. We ran close into the spaceport and fought several Geths and Husks as we got closer in. I noticed a dead body of a turian.

_Might have been the one talking to Shepard earlier._

Kaiden crouched near the turian to check if he was alive.

"You know him?" I asked Shepard.

He nodded as Kaiden spoke up "He's a Spectre. He works with us on the Nor-". But before he could finish, Ash shouted "Something's moving! Over behind these crates!"

At these words, I immediately aimed my assault rifle to the crates.

_The Nor-? Does he mean the Normandy?_

"If you are friendly, show yourself!" I shouted.

A colonist quickly ran up to us shouting "Wait! Don't-dont't shoot! I'm one of you! I'm human".

"What are you doing sneaking around back there?" Shepard asked the colonist.

"I...I'm sorry. I was hiding from these creatures." he replied. I sighed as I lowered my assault rifle along with everyone else.

"My name's Powell. I saw what happened to that turian. The other one shot him" the colonist now known as Powell said.

"Wait a minute, you say he was shot by another turian? Not Geth?" I asked him, curious of his response.

"The other one got here first. He was waiting when your friend showed up. He called him Saren. I think they knew eachother" Powell answered. "Your friend seemed to relax. He let his guard down..and Saren killed him. Shot him, right in the back. I'm just lucky he didn't see me behind the crates" he added as he shook his head.

"Where'd Saren go when he killed Nihlus?" Shepard asked.

"He jumped on the cargo train and headed over to the other platform. Probably going after the beacon." Powell answered as he pointed to the cargo train. "I knew that beacon was trouble. Everything's gone to hell since we found it. First that damn mother ship showed up. Then the attack." Powell complained as he leaned on the cargo crate in front of him. "The killed everyone, Everyone! If I hadn't been behind the crates, I'd be dead, too!" Powell sighed.

"Looks like we have to hurry before its too late" I said to Shepard, he nodded and began to head to the cargo train. I turn to look at Powell "Powell, find somewhere safe to hide, ok?" I told him.

He nodded and replied "Y-yeah, I gotta get away anyway..." as he left.

I turn to follow Shepard, we took out two Geth Troopers and walked down some stairs. We got on the cargo train and had to fight to the front to activate the train. We got close to the front until I saw a Geth Juggernaut, so I switched my assault rifle for my shotgun. I quickly charge at the Juggernaut while firing my shotgun at it. When I finally got close enough to the Juggernaut, I shoved the barrel of my shotgun into its head and pulled the trigger. The shotgun blast immediately blew the head off as I kicked the Geth backwards before I scrambled to cover nearby. The last few Geth Troopers were quickly dealt with.

Shepard glared at me for a moment before saying "Kid, bold move, but next time, let us know first, ok?".

I simply nod back to him. He patted my shoulder, and that's when it hit me.

_He definitely looks familiar somehow...did I see him from somewhere other than the reports?_

Shepard reached out to activate the cargo train and then the train jolted forward, taking us to the other platform. As I see that we were nearing the other platform, I switched my shotgun for my assault rifle. Then we got off the train, Shepard noticed some demolition charges nearby so he moved to disarm them while I covered him. He successfully disarmed it, so then he ran up to the catwalks to cross into another walkway. "Cover me!" he ordered as he went left to disarm the other demolition charge as we held the position, taking out several Geth Troopers that was trying to disrupt Shepard. He successfully disarmed that initial demolition charge and ordered us to move up to the next demolition charge to keep the Geth away while he was disarming the third demolition charge. "Ok, last one to go" Shepard said as he signaled us to move. We managed to take out several Troopers along with a Geth Sniper and Geth Shock Trooper as we made it to the last demolition charge. He successfully disarmed it and gave us all a thumbs up.

_Even in battle, Shepard tries to keep us all sane. Glad to know someone cares._

I moved to follow him down to another platform, taking cover behind some crates. I popped out to take out a Trooper before retreating to cover. I noticed a Husk trying to get Shepard from behind, I tan to the Husk as I shouted "Look out Shep-". I couldn't finish my statement before I tackled the Husk to the ground, I pulled my pistol out and bashed the Husk's head into pulp. I looked up to see Shepard staring at me, surprised. "What? You rather I let it eat your ass?" I replied.

Shepard let out a chuckle before outstretching a hand, I took it as he pulled me up. "Nah, just surprised you didn't shoot him instead." Shepard remarked. He turned to the strange object glowing with green energy "Normandy, the beacon is secure. Request immediate evac." I heard Shepard said.

_Normandy, huh? Looks like my hunch was right. Ash, you shouldn't be so cl-_

I couldn't say anything before Ash got too close to the beacon. She suddenly got pulled by the machine. I ran after her, grabbing one of her hands.

_Damn, this beacon is strong!_

I see Shepard run in to grab Ash by her waist and throw her at me. I managed to grab her and use my own body to soften the landing. I can see Shepard floating up in the air, the same green energy enveloping him. I can see him struggling as suddenly the beacon exploded, launching Shepard at me, his shoulders colliding with my stomach.

_What? Seriously, God? What's with you and literally throwing people at me?_

I gently roll Shepard to his back and checked for a pulse. "He's still alive! Get us to the ship, now!" I shouted at Kaiden as I pulled Shepard up, lifting him into a fireman's carry. Kaiden looked at me if I was mad. "Kaiden! Snap out of it! He needs medical attention!" I yelled at him. He quickly motioned me to follow him, along with Ash.


	4. Evidence

**A/N: Whoo, got another chapter out for now! Its for a damn good reason since this' my longest chapter ever yet. Here is when things start to steer a bit off from the original storyline I thought about. Also, Tali makes an entrance into the story, yay Talimancers! **

_Italics:_ Thinking

"Talking"

**Also forgot to post disclaimers for my previous chapters, might as well start.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and its characters. They are owned by Bioware. But however, I do own the OC, Dakkben Slade, along with some OC's I might put in.**

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><p>Chapter 4: Evidence<p>

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><p><em>All I could see was death, destruction and pain. That was all I could see before I blacked out.<em>

I slowly open my eyes, seeing the familiar blue hue.

_I must be in the Normandy._

I can hear Williams' voice as she spoke.

"Doctor? Doctor Chakwas? I think he's waking up."

While I was slowly getting myself up, _Bloody headache..., _I slowly put my head in my hands. Then I turned to face a woman in a medical uniform with silvery white hair.

"You had us worried there, Shepard. How are you feeling?" the woman, I recognized as Doctor Chakwas asked.

I simply shrugged and asked "How did I end up here? How long was I out?".

"About fifteen hours. Something happened down there with the beacon, I think" Doctor Chakwas replied.

"Its my fault. I must have triggered some kind of security field when I approached it. You and Slade managed to get me out of the way." Williams added with a tone of remorse.

"You had no way to know what would happen" I said to try to reassure her.

"Actually, we don't even know if that's what set if off. Unfortunately, we'll never get the chance to find out." Doctor Chakwas added.

"The beacon exploded, it was overloaded, maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. Slade managed to carry you back here to the ship." Williams remarked.

_Huh? A man alone was able to carry me along with my armor and weapons? He might be handy to have around._

"Well then, I better tell him my thanks when I see him. And thank you, Williams for telling me" I said as I took a moment to observe Williams' posture. She seemed to lighten up from my words and offered a small smile in reply.

"Physically, you're fine. But I detected some unusual brain activity, abnormal beta waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement, signs typically associated with intense dreaming." the doctor noted as she took a moment to observe her datapad.

"I-I'm not sure what I saw, death, destruction. Nothing's really clear." I sighed as I took the time to massage the back of my neck in an effort to soothe my headache. The doctor seemed to be interested in what I said and said "Hmmm. I better add this to my report. It may-Oh, Captain Anderson.". I quickly got to my feet and glanced over to Captain Anderson.

"How's our XO holding up, Doctor?" he asked, cautiously observing both myself and Doctor Chakwas.

"All the readings look normal. I'd say that the Commander's going to be fine." the doctor replied.

Captain Anderson Nodded before saying "Good to hear it. Shepard, I need to speak with you, in private".

Williams gave a brisk salute in reply as she said "Aye, aye, Captain. I'll be in the mess if you need me." She left along with Doctor Chakwas behind her.

"Sounds like that beacon hit you pretty hard, Commander. You sure you're okay?" Captain Anderson asked, a tone of concern noticed in his usually stoic voice.

"I'll live." I replied briskly, glad to see that Captain Anderson was concerned with my well-being.

"I won't lie to you, Shepard. Things look bad. Nihlus is dead. The beacon was destroyed and Geth are invading. The Council's going to want answers." Captain Anderson added as he glanced over the datapad he had in his hand.

"The Geth would have wiped out the whole colony if I and the others hadn't stopped them. " I said.

"I'll stand behind you and your report, Shepard. You and Slade are damned heroes in my books. That's not why I'm here. Its Saren, that other turian. Saren's a Spectre, one of the best. A living legend. But if he's working with the Geth, it means he's gone rogue. A rogue Spectre's trouble. Saren's dangerous. And he hates humans." Captain explained.

_Wait, I understand why he thinks I'm a hero, considering what I did back then during the Skyllian Blitz all the years ago. But, what did Slade do to have Captain Anderson consider him as a hero equal to me?_

I raised my one of my eyebrows in a curious thought in what exactly Slade did. Captain Anderson seemed to noticed what I was thinking and only offered a brief shake of his head "If you want to know what he did, ask him later, but...don't be surprised if he doesn't open up about it right away. What he went through was brutal, maybe the worst anyone in the Alliance had to go through." Captain Anderson replied as he seemed to glance down, his face momentarily in sorrow.

_Wow, whatever Slade went though was that bad? Maybe I should be careful in how I ask him about whatever he did...or experienced. _

"Anyways. He didn't come to Eden Prime because he hates humans." I said as Captain Anderson glanced back up to face myself, his face in almost thin veil behind anger and disgust.

"You're right. Saren has allied himself with the Geth. I don't know how, I don't know why. But it had something to do with that beacon. You were there just before the beacon self-destructed. Did you see anything? Any clue that might tell us what Saren was after?" Anderson said as he paced back and forth in the Med-Bay.

I only leaned back onto the medical bed before replying "Just before I lost consciousness. I had some kind of vision."

Anderson seemed curious so he replied "A vision? A vision of what?".

"I saw synthetics. Geth, maybe. Slaughtering people, butchering them." I replied.

He seemed to be taken aback at what I said. "We need to report this to the Council, Shepard." he said.

I sighed as I replied "What are we going to tell them? I had a bad dream?".

"We don't know what information was stored in that beacon. Lost Prothean technology? Blueprints for some ancient weapon of mass destruction? Whatever it was, Saren took it." he replied.

His words gave me chills to my spine. "But I know Saren. I know his reputation, his politics. He believes humans are a blight on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war! He has the secrets from the beacon. He has an army of Geth at his command. And he won't stop until he's wiped humanity from the face of the galaxy!" he continued.

"I'll find some way to take him down" I reassured him.

"Its not that easy. He's a Spectre. He can go anywhere, do almost anything. That's why we need the Council on our side." he said with a sigh.

"We'll prove Saren's gone rogue and the Council will revoke his Spectre status." I replied.

"I'll contact the ambassador, and see if he can get us an audience with the Council. He'll want to see us as soon as we reach the Citadel. We should be getting close. Head up to the bridge and tell Joker to bring us in the dock." He said as he gave a soft pat on my shoulder before he left.

I only sighed as I was left alone with my thoughts in the Med-Bay.

_Maybe I should check in on Slade and thank him for getting me onto the Normandy. Maybe I can convince him to stay on the crew considering we have room since..._

I only grimaced as I remembered the death of one of the new recruits for the ground team, Jenkins. The fresh recruit was recently killed on Eden Prime when they had encountered the Geth Drones. He only sighed as he left the Med-Bay, he walked into the mess hall, noticing Williams at one of the tables.

She was staring into her rations with a disgust as she forced the grey goop into her mouth before spitting it back out. Only to try to shove it back in again. I cleared my throat, catching her attention as she turned to my direction while still trying to eat the rations.

"Know where Slade is?" I asked.

She managed to swallow the horribly tasting food before replying "Saw him went down to Engineering after he brought you to the Med-Bay." I nodded my thanks as I walked away towards the elevator...

xXx

"Allright, boss. I'm avoiding the doctor like the plague, but, she's sure as hell as persistent as krogans are angry in the middle of a bloodrage." I said to my boss, careful to keep my voice down.

The voice over the other end of my secure link only sighed as it replied "Good, now, we have plans in place to explain your...unique physique and shadowed past."

_He means to explain how I ended up being capable of taking a shotgun blast standing and survive, that and I worked for Cerberus while being in the Alliance several times. Hmmm, might make it easier on me to keep my lies straight than trying to bullshit my way out. Hope he got a good one set up._

"Allright, what is it?" I said as I glanced around the Engineering Deck, making sure I was truly alone.

"First, when you arrive at the Citadel. Find a way to get yourself alone and change into the civilian clothes we have hidden at the provided location. Then we will contact you with further details." the voice replied as the link ended with a click. Strangely enough, I could picture the smug face of the Illusive Man from the other end of the link knowing that he practically had my future at stake.

_Well, considering that he could plaster my face all over the extranet about my connections to Cerberus._

I heard footsteps coming from behind as I turned my omni-tool off, I made sure to maintain a casual stature as I turned to the source of the sounds. I recognized the man as Commander Shepard.

_Looks like he wants to talk, hope I didn't do anything wrong, well, yet anyways._

"Hey, Slade. I, uh, wanted to say thanks for carrying me all the way to the Normandy after I was knocked out." He said as he glanced over to myself. I noticed he seemed curious about me, like he wanted to ask something personal, but was barely holding back.

I formed a grin as I replied "Well, its no problem, sir. After all, leave no man behind, right?"

"Yeah. Slade, you don't have to do all of those formalities. I like to get to know my crew. You can call me Shepard. Although I like to keep John reserved for the 'ladies'." He replied as he put an emphasis on

ladies with a suggestive eyebrow gesture. The both of us ended up laughing in a uproar as Engineer Adams walked in, he nervously looked at the both of us as if we were on drugs. That nervous look only led to the both of us laughing even harder, barely being able to breathe.

As the both of us was able to calm down from the laughter, I was able to collect my thoughts as I realized what Shepard said before. "Wait, Com-I mean, Shepard. You said you like to get to know your crew, does that mean..." I asked.

He nodded with a soft smile before answering "Yes. I'm having both you and Gunnery Chief Williams transferred onto the crew of the Normandy, so welcome aboard." as he offered a hand.

I took the offered hand and gave a firm handshake, noticing his soft smile momentarily flashing to one of curiosity before changing back again. "Well, thanks Shepard. I could use a change of post, considering what happened on Eden." I said as he gave a knowing nod.

"Well, we'll be coming up on the Citadel shortly. I'll be taking both Kaiden and Williams to meet the Council. So everyone else will have a short shore leave for now until the meeting is over." He replied.

_Well, that takes care of the being alone problem. Now, I better get to my civvies, change and get outta here before the good doctor finds me._

"Thanks Shepard. I could use a bit of a break for now. I'll catch ya later." I replied with another grin.

He only nods as he turns back around to leave me alone with Engineer Adams. I noticed Engineer Adams glancing back and forth between myself and his console. "Don't worry, it was a bad joke. See ya." I said to Engineer Adams, he only replied with a slight nod before looking back to his console.

_Poor guy, he could use another engineer to help out around here, he seems swamped in work._

Shaking my head, I activated my omni-tool, the orange glow illuminating against the blue hue of the drive core. I opened up the note I received from the boss with a sigh.

'Located under assigned Sleep Pod. Code: Sten'

_Huh? Sten? Better get to my Pod then_.

I casually walked over to the elevator and pressed the button for the Crew Quarters where the Sleep Pods was located. I was only glad they gave me a Sleep Pod instead of putting me on the Hot Bunking. Personally, I wished they gave me one of the private quarters on the deck, but probably not. The elevator was surprisingly slow as well.

_You think that on the most advanced ship that ever exists in both Alliance and Turian ship technology, that they would have a much more efficient method of moving the elevator? Nope._

The elevator doors opened with a hiss as I cautiously peeked my head out, checking for any silver-haired doctors waiting to ambush me. After confirming I didn't see any, I quickly made my way out of the elevator and checked over the Sleep Pods' names.

'Alenko' _Nice guy, bit too by the book, but certainly someone you want on your side._

'Adams' _Seems a bit nervous, but that's just probably me._

'Pressly' _A bit stern, seems to be a bit xenophoic. Reminds me too much of Cerberus, and I don't like it._

I noticed another Sleep Pod that had a name tag with 'Jenkins' on it, but there was a note posted onto the name tag. 'Jenkins was KIA at Eden Prime. Until for further notice, this Sleep Pod will remain vacant in respect for the man's sacrifice.'

I only sighed, taking a moment to mutter few words of compassion. Even though I never met the man, it always hurt to hear about a fellow soldier die in battle.

_Not especially since-_

I shook my head before I could complete my thoughts. I didn't want to remember what happened back then all the years ago. I only sighed as I pushed ahead to search for my Sleep Pod.

'Slade_' Yup, found it._

As promised, the Sleep Pod had a medium sized crate underneath it, I noticed a datapad attached on the side. I pressed in the given password and the crate popped open as the datapad beeped in affirmative tone. I opened the crate fully and gave myself a soft chuckle. I took my uniform off as quickly as I could, making sure to put them into the crate as I pulled out the civilian clothes out along with a small pistol and a shield belt. I put on the darker blue jeans along with the shield belt onto it. I noticed that the white tank top was larger than my size, realizing that it was so it could cover the shield belt.

_Crude, but clever._

So I put the white tank top, its fabric loosely clinging onto my skin as I swung the black leather jacket on. I noticed the black leather jacket had a built in holster on the left side for the small pistol.

_Good, don't want to go out unarmed._

I picked up my worn dog tags from my working in the Alliance under Cerberus control, and I took the time to look at it.

_Worn, faded, but always refusing to perish. Just like me._

I placed it over on my neck, letting it dangle over my tank top. Making sure I had everything on before I closed the crate and returned it under the Sleep Pod. I made my way back to the elevator, carefully positioning myself so I could quickly hide if Doctor Chakwas was in the elevator. The doors opened with a hiss and I sighed in relief.

_No doctor, better hurry now._

I quickly made my way into the elevator and pressed the button for CIC, internally thanking that the Med-Bay was located under the CIC. However with every passing, slow, tortuously slow second in the elevator did well to whittle away at that confidence I had only moments ago. The doors opened to reveal the CIC, there was several of the crew workers around the CIC, either working on the various consoles or chatting around. I took a slow breath and walked past various Alliance members, some of them taking the time to glance over to my direction, and I noticed something in their glances, signs of respect?

_It must because that I carried Shepard back here, he is their 'hero' after all, how often does one have the chance to help out the Lion of Elysium?_

I could hear various voices talking ahead near the airlock, a firm, commanding voice, _Shepard. A_ slightly firm, yet softer voice, _Alenko. _A blunt, yet feminine voice, _Ash_. But the fourth I didn't recognize, it was sarcastic, deep, mature yet childish at the same time.

_Must be their pilot._

As I made my way to join the others, I noticed Ash looked back to me with a huff. "What, Ash? You jealous that I get shore leave while you gotta bust your fine ass for the Council?" I remarked. I could see her cheeks turn slightly pink as the pilot cracked up in a loud cackle of laughter, Kaiden was snickering while holding his stomach. Shepard, however was glaring in my direction. Worried that I had gone overboard I was about to apologize before I noticed that Shepard was barely able to keep his laughter in with one hand clamped onto his mouth and the other pinching the bridge of his nose. The pilot afforded a glance back to reply "Damn, that was good. I like him already. Anyways, Shepard. we're docked aboard the Citadel.". Shepard nodded as he motioned for both Kaiden and Ash to follow him with Kaiden nodding in my direction and Ash blowing a raspberry in my general direction as Shepard left through the airlock.

"So, what's your name, eh?" the pilot asked as he turned around in his chair.

"Ahh, Slade." I replied as I glanced over my shoulder, checking to see if Doctor Chakwas found me yet.

"Slade, eh? I'm Joker and I'm the best damn pilot in the Allia-no, the whole damn galaxy!" Joker replied as he waved his arms around for dramatization, drawing a chuckle from myself.

"Really? All the women must be lining up for a piece of the best pilot in the whole galaxy, then?" I quipped.

He only sighs as he shakes his head. "eh, you don't notice do you?" he asked.

"Notice what?" I replied, curious of what he meant.

"I got Vrolik's Syndrome, can't do much without breaking every damn bone I got. And don't treat me any different, got it?" Joker said as his voice turned stern, which was surprisingly different from his previously carefree tone.

_He sure doesn't like being treated like he is different._

Deciding to play along with Joker's advice, I replied "Sure, as long there is one bone you'll never break, there is hope, eh?" along with a suggestive gesture using both my hands.

Joker only laughed as he turned back around to do whatever he was doing before I talked to him.

"Allright, I'll be going now, see ya later, boner." I said as I made my way to the airlock.

I could hear Joker reply back "Yeah, yeah. At least I could keep it in my pants long enough to finish downloading my good stuff"

_Damn it, Joker. I don't need that image right now!_

Mentally cursing to myself as I walked down the ramp onto the Citadel, taking a moment to absorb in the scene of the Citadel.

_No matter how many times I've been here, this place never ceases to amaze me. Now where do I go? Flux sounds good._

So then I made my way to the instant transit console and was about to get a cab when my omni-tool beeped, realizing it could be the boss calling about the plan he got set up. I took the moment to run into an alley I noticed, making sure that there was nobody around to eavesdrop. I opened my omni-tool and completed the link.

The familiar cold voice of the Illusive Man rang out "Operative Slade. I will make this brief. The Council will not believe Shepard until we get hard evidence into his hands, however our sources indicates that a Quarian by the name of Tali'Zorah nar Rayya had come into sensitive information linking Saren to Eden Prime. She had contacted our friend, the Shadow Broker for protection. But she doesn't know that Fist is working for Saren. She is currently in Chora's Den, waiting to contact Fist. Find her first, protect her from Saren's assassins. Also, as for the plan we discussed earlier, you must send her to the Human Embassy and get yourself captured by the outside mercenary group we sent after you, don't worry, we have made specific instructions to them to not kill you. However, expect yourself to be roughed up before being rescued. It will help explain everything involving your physique and past. Make sure you don't give away more unnecessary information than you require. Oh, also, yes when you are done with the mercenary group we sent after you, you may exterminate them. Godspeed"

The link was cut out before I could even utter a single word, sighing, I quickly made my way to the instant transit and got a cab. I gave the order to transport me to the nearest location to Chora's Den. I flinched as I realized how the Illusive Man said 'exterminate', as if the mercenaries were vermin. I shook my head softly as I noticed the cab had landed near the Chora's Den. I paid the driver several credits as I left the cab. I took a slow breath as I made my way to the entrance of the Chora's Den, but before I could get in, the krogan bouncer stood in my way.

"Human, go elsewhere" the krogan snarled while I was unfazed. I noticed a Quarian across the bar, looking around nervously.

_That must be Tali._

"Any chance I can change your mind?" I asked the krogan.

He snorted before opening his omni-tool "100 creds or I throw you out." he growled at me.

Sighing as I opened my omni-tool to give him the credits, he snorted again before moving out of my way.

_Good thing the Illusive Man pays well._

I calmly made my way to the bar, keeping casual behavior as I ignored the asari dancers. I motioned the turian bartender to approach.

"What do you want?" the turian bartender gruffly said as he cleaned out one of the glasses.

"Surprise me." I replied.

_Since I'm here, can't hurt to grab a drink, might help me to blend in._

The turian only turned around before giving me a glass filled with some kind of greenish fluid in it. I also noticed there was blue fruits floating around in the glass as well. I raised the glass to my lips.

_Down the hatch._

And I drank the liquor, the taste was fruity, and surprisingly, it also burned my throat. I only chuckled to myself as I put the glass down at the counter. Thanking the bartender, I paid him as I leaned forward, pretending to act slightly buzzed.

_After all, after what Cerberus did to me, I could hardly could get drunk. Only one thing that could get me even slightly buzzed was Ryncol, and I hardly think they wouldn't be suspicious of me if I downed a whole gallon of it and not end up puking my guts out._

The turian only gave me a slight nod before resuming to his duties, attending to other customers. I took a casual glance over my shoulder to the Quarian. I noticed she seemed to be still nervous, constantly glancing back and forth from the exit out of the Chora's Den and to several krogan bodyguards standing post near some double doors.

_Must be where Fist's offices are, it doesn't matter. I'm not here to kill him anyways. Lets see how I'll do this..._

_Option 1: I could just waltz right up to Tali and tell her I know everything and I'll get her to the Embassy to Shepard so he could present her 'evidence'. Problem with that is that if I tell her I know who she is, chances are, she'll try to blow my head off with that shotgun she got._

_Option 2: I could follow her around and run in to rescue her if Saren's assassin's shows up. Hmmm, too risky, and it might take too long._

_Option 3..._

xXx

I nervously look around the dirty, filthy, scum covered bar, flinching in disdain at the sight of nearly naked asari dancers as I waited for a reply from Fist. I noticed a human at the bar drinking a glass, he seemed to be out of place. While the others were either busy drowning in liquor or staring lecherously at the asari dancers, he just simply stared into his glass. I continued to watch him before I sighed as I glanced away from the human, only to realize he glanced back to me.

_Keelah...Did he notice that I was watching him?_

The nervousness I felt had skyrocketed when the human got off his seat and made his way to my booth, he calmly sat down across me.

_Keelah! Is he going to do something? Is he going to threaten me?_

The human just glanced up to me, making eye contact as he was about to say something as he froze. His stare wasn't just a stare of disgust or anger, but curiosity...and something else. Compassion? In his moment of hesitance, I noticed the human had deep silver eyes, an unusual trait amongst humans, and he had a faint scar underneath his left side of his jawbone. The human only offered a soft smile before saying "Don't worry. I'm...just tired that's all. I just needed someplace to sit that isn't near scum." as he glanced downwards.

_The human isn't angry, or disgusted with me? But, I'm a Quarian..._

"erm...I'm sorry, but why are you tired? I mean uh...you could sit anywhere else. Why sit in a booth occupied by a Quarian?" I asked the human.

The human only chuckled softly as he glanced back up to me, looking at my visor, no, not my visor, but into my eyes. "Well, for starters. I've learned that races, species, religion, whatever, it all means nothing. I know better than to judge an individual by their stereotypes. Hell, I don't scream thief every time I see a Quarian. Unless of course that Quarian DID actually steal something from me."

I gasped in surprise from the human's kindness and apparent wisdom, before I knew it, I was leaning over the table to get closer to the human. He doesn't seem to mind as he glanced over to my right, in the direction of Fist's office. "Well, since I'm here. Might as well introduce myself, my name's Dakkben Slade, Serviceman of the formerly active 212 unit." He said as he took out a hand.

Remembering the human custom from many observations of human behaviors I've noticed, I took his hand, the feel of five fingers instead of three made it feel foreign and embarrassingly enough I liked the feel of his strong hold against my gloved hand. "T-Tali, I mean. Tali'Zorah nar Rayya." I managed to stutter.

The stutter didn't seem to faze the human as he smiled to me as I felt heat rise up to my cheeks, he didn't seem to be bad enough after all. "Pleased to meet you, Miss Zorah. I presume that the Rayya was the ship you were born on, right?" Slade replied.

I could only gasp in shock again, not only was this human, this Dakkben Slade was treating me as an equal, but he had knowledge of Quarian culture. I could only release his hand after shaking it, he gave a sheepish grin before saying "Yeah, I know, it not every day that you meet a human on your Pilgrimage that knows more about Quarians than your average bosh'tet." along with a soft chuckle,

I could only gasp further in surprise, and strange fascination with this human.

_He did say he's a Serviceman, does that mean he's part of the Alliance? And what does he mean by formerly active?_

"So...Slade..." I began.

"Dakkben, Miss Zorah, you can call me Dakkben." Jack interjected with a smile. That smile sent flutters back into my stomach.

_Keelah..._

"Dakkben, what did you mean? Formerly active?" I asked, observing his face. As I noticed he seemed to glanced down in sorrow, his handsomely chiseled face that would make any woman me-_Keelah, focus!_

"I'm sorry, did I offend you?" I added, worried that Dakkben was insulted.

"Ahh, don't worry. Its just that...By formerly, I meant, everyone else is dead. You got the Geth to thank for that. The damn bastards hit us hard, took everyone out. Me and the Gunnery Chief, Ash barely stayed alive to be rescued by Commander Shepard." He said as he glanced back up to meet my eyes.

_Shepard? The Lion of Elysium Shepard? We've studied his methods to protect our Flotilla from slaver attacks!_

"Keelah...I'm sorry, about what happened. If it wasn't for the Quarians, nobody would have died at Eden Pr-" But before I could finish my words, Dakkben had placed his index finger onto my mouthpiece, making a soft shushing sound.

"Don't worry, Tali. I don't blame you. The only Quarians I blame for Eden Prime have been dead for almost three hundred years." He said with a smile, a true smile of compassion. I could feel myself blush furiously as I thanked Keelah for my visor so he couldn't see me blush.

As he took his index finger off my mouthpiece, I began to think about what he said.

_If he had survived Eden Prime, does that mean he might want to find evidence for the ones responsible of the invasion in the first place?_

"Dakkben...erm, why are you still here? I mean...you say that you survived Eden Prime, right? Why not go to the Council and try to get their support?" I asked.

Dakkben only sighed as he leaned back into his seat before replying "Well, knowing the Council. I highly doubt that the testimony of a shell-shocked dockworker and a human whose mind that had been screwed over by an ancient Prothean beacon would be enough to get them to revoke Saren's Spectre status. Hell, the bastard's probably grinning to himself while Shepard and Captain Anderson's trying to convince the Council. We need hard evidence, which we don't have. Plus, Shepard gave me shore leave until the meeting's over. So...yeah.".

_Wait. He needs evidence to prove Saren's behind Eden Prime! It'll be better to give him the evidence than risk handing it over to the Shadow Broker for sure._

"Dakkben..." I whispered in a low voice as I leaned forward onto the counter. Dakkben seemed to be piqued with curiosity as he leaned closer to me. "What would you do if...I told you I had evidence you need?" I asked quietly.

His eyebrows shot up in surprise as he seemed to take a moment to think through what I said. "Well...I would get you to the Human Embassy so you could give the evidence to Shepard so he could prove Saren's link to Eden Prime." He whispered back, his tone had both caution and concern.

"Well...then...lead the way..." I whispered in reply. Dakkben seemed to understand what I meant as he nodded slowly before replying again "Allright. Don't worry, I'll make sure you get through this alive, Geth or no Geth.".

I nodded back as we both got out of the booth before we made our way towards the exit of Chora's Den. I could hear loud commotion from the direction of Fist's office, as I turned to face the office, I gasped in surprise. Fist was shouting orders at the krogan bodyguards and I recognized his orders was to capture me and bring me to Saren.

_Keelah! That bosh'tet worked for Saren! I hope Dakkben can-no if he could survive the Geth, these krogan shouldn't be much of a problem. But...he isn't_ even_ armed!_

"Hurry! Fist's sending his men to take me to Saren!" I whispered to him as I got closer to him. He nodded in confirmation and only replied "Stay close Tali, its about to get rough."

But before I could reply, one of the krogan bodyguards charged at Dakkben. Dakkben quickly sidestepped the charging krogan and tripped him before axe kicking him directly to the throat, a loud crunch rang out as the krogan was almost instantly killed in mere moments.

_Keelah!...keelah..._

"Anyone else wants a turn?" the soldier remarked, his voice turning from his previously compassive into his more serious, intimating voice. Nearly all of the other mercenaries including the bouncer took a glance at each other before taking a step away from Dakkben. "Thought so. C'mon" Dakkben said as he motioned for me to follow him as we both left Chora's Den and its occupants stunned.

As soon as we were both safely away from Chora's Den and deep into the alleys with Dakkben leading the way. "Wow...I've never seen anyone, let alone a human take down a krogan in hand to hand, let alone that quickly!" I exclaimed as I walked up alongside him to match his pace. He only shakes his head as he seemed to ponder something.

"Yeah...I guess..." He only replied as he led us down an alley to the left.

"How can y-I mean, how were you able to do that just back then?" I asked. Dakkben suddenly stopped before taking a deep breath.

"Tali...it's a long story. I...will try to explain to you when we have time" he said as he gave a small smile, but instead of compassion or kindness, it was almost sad, not at me, but as if the mere memory of his tale made him sad.

"I...allright. I trust you, Dakkben." I replied as I smiled at him, initially cursing to myself that I momentarily forgot I had my suit on, like always.

_Seems like just having him around makes me forget that I even had the suit on..._

He seemed to understood my thoughts as he softly patted my shoulder before gesturing me to follow him as he led us through the alleys. After taking seemingly countless turns through the alleys, we finally managed to get into what seemed to be an open, yet vacant cargo area. I noticed there was a elevator on the other side of the area.

"There. The elevator will take us to the Presidium, from there, we can get to the Embassy." He explained as he pointed towards the elevator. We both jogged over through the cargo area, noticing several abandoned cargo crates nearby. "Allright, this elevator needs some time t-" but before he could finish his words, several gunshots rang out as bullets ricocheted off the floors behind us. I quickly took cover behind one of the crates as I noticed that Dakkben pressed one of the buttons next to the elevator doors before running up to take cover next to me.

"Shit. The elevator needs at least five minutes to get down to the level, keep your eyes on the left." He said as he pulled out a pistol he had hidden in his jacket. He quickly popped out of cover to fire off several shots, loud screams of pain could be heard as he popped back into cover as blue shimmers surrounding him faded away. He only grunted as he squeezed his muscular form behind the crate, the sweat making his tank top cling to his skin, I could only stare at him in wonder.

_He wasn't never unarmed in the first place! He even had a shield hidden on him! This human isn't a soldier, he is a warrior! A hot, handsom-keelah no! Focus, focus, FOCUS!_

I shook my head in an effort to shake away the thoughts I had of the human next to me. I leaned out from behind the crate with my pistol and noticed a turian in strange armor, the turian saw me and motioned two other turians behind him to attack before I fired off a shot. The shot slammed into the turian's head, easily jerking his head backwards, surprisingly in the turian's sudden death, he had fired off his assault rife which had been pointing to the salarian next to him priming a grenade. The salarian only shrieked in pain as he dropped his grenade, the explosion easily taking out the two other turians along with the wounded salarian.

"Nice shot. Remind me to not piss you off." Dakkben's remark made its way into my audio receptors.

I could only blush as I could barely hear the faint beep of the elevator, confirming it had arrived.

"Allright, this' going to be close. When I say go, you run in front of me as we both get to the elevator, got it?" He said as he checked over his belt, which I noticed had the shielding system attached to its, what was it called? Buckle.

"Ready..." He began.

I could only nod.

"Set..." He said as he got into a crouching position.

I mimicked his position as well.

"GO!" He roared as I ran up as he pressed himself onto my back, shielding me from the gunfire. In any other situation, I would have blushed or smacked him, but he was putting his life on the line to protect me.

_Me, a Quarian...NO, FOCUS, KEEP RUNNING OR HE WILL DIE!_

I kept running as he encouragingly pushed me ahead as the elevator doors opened with a hiss as we both made it in. I could only sigh in relief I noticed we both made it in without our shields failing. He quickly made his way throughout the elevator, trying to work the console. "Shit, this isn't good. Years of disuse left the console unusable, the only way to activate it is..." he began.

"Is to go outside." I finished.

_No! I can't have anyone die for me! Not him!_

He sighed as he made my way to get out, only to have me cling onto his waist. "W-wait! P-please don't go. Y-y-you'll die!" I sobbed as I refused to let go, my strength betraying my smaller Quarian frame.

"Tali...listen. I promise you. I'll be fine. You are more important, and..." he began as he pulled some kind of silver necklace off with rectangular tabs on it and he put them onto me, the larger necklace dangling on my neck. "...I will be back. I promise you this." he continued.

I hesitantly released his waist as I slowly moved away from him.

"Remember, when you get to the Embassy, ask for Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Tell him Dakkben Slade sent you. Then from there, you can explain everything else, allright?" He said as he walked up to the door.

I pressed myself to the side as I held back sobs. He glanced back to me over his shoulder and gave me a soft smile again before adding in "Besides, I owe you a story sometime, eh?".

And then he opened the doors, the gunfire poured in as he ran out before the doors closed again. In moments, the elevator started moving to what I assume would be the Presidium.

_He said he'll be back. He'll make it, he survived the Geth after all. He'll be fine..._

I was so deep into my thoughts, I didn't notice the elevator had stopped as it reached its destination. I cautiously stepped out and I was surprised. The Presidium had lakes, gardens, even various statues around! The sight of the lakes especially was so fascinating I nearly forgot why I was here in the first place. Mentally cursing to myself as I quickly made my way towards the Human Embassy I noticed ahead, ignoring the dirty looks I received from others.

_If Dakkben was here, he probably would mop up the floor with them...I hope he's no-NO, DON'T THINK THAT! HE PROMISED! HE WILL BE FINE! FOCUS, TALI! FOCUS!_

I made my way into the Embassy, I noticed a human female secretary sitting behind an office as she typed away at her holoboard. I cleared my throat to get her attention, the human lazily glanced over to my direction and said "Humans only. No Quarians allowed."

I only sighed as I replied "I know, but I'm here to talk to Commander Shepard of the Normandy, one of his friends sent me."

The human woman only replied "And who would be that friend be?"

"Serviceman Dakkben Slade of the formerly active 212 unit from Eden Prime" I snapped back.

The woman sighed as she pointed a finger down the hallway to her right. "Third door on your left, no stealing, Quarian." she said as she returned back to her work.

_Already, I'm missing Dakkben's kind attitude..._

xXx

As I ran out of the elevator, I quickly turned to face the console. Ignoring the warning blares of my shield's failing strength as I furiously typed away at the console. I could barely hear the affirmative whirring of the elevator moving as my shields failed. I felt intense pain of bullets hitting my back as I landed on the ground, I could taste blood in my mouth, but it wasn't the first time I was shot, and I've survived worse. Several of the mercenaries approached me slowly, I would have used my pistol, but the bullets tore through my pistol and damaged it.

One of the mercenaries was a turian in red face paint as I noticed he smirked slightly before giving orders to the others to pick me up. As they dragged me by my arms towards the turian that I assumed to be their leader. "Hello, Mr. Slade. My name is...Duron, our mutual friend, Saren decided to eliminate you since he figured out you were sent in to help Commander Shepard against him. As for the outside mercenary group? Eh, lets just say they aren't around anymore." He said with a cackle as one of the turians behind me took out his pistol and fired a bullet into my leg. "Something to make sure you don't get away, IF you do manage to break away. Now, lets give your friends a demonstration..." He said as his voice took a ominous tone...

_That can't be good_

xXx

I made my way to the door that the human secretary told me to open, I noticed the writings on the door said Ambassador. I also noticed some voices coming from the room, sighing as I took a moment to gather my courage and opened to door to get in.

I noticed there was a whole a lot of armed people in the room, there was a massive krogan in red, he had vertical scars on his right side of face. There was also a turian next to the krogan, the turian had the blue uniform of a C-Sec officer, the turian glanced over to me and his eyes widened in surprise. I glanced over to the five other humans, one of them was darker skinned and had the dress uniform of a Alliance marine. The female in pinkish Onyx armor folded her arms as she whispered to the male marine in a blacker Onyx armor. The taller armored human had an N7 stripe on his right side of his chest piece.

_Must be Commander Shepard._

And the last human seemed to be extremely pissed at Commander Shepard as he continued to shout at him. "And on the top of it all, you lost the Quarian!" the extremely aggressive man shouted at Commander Shepard.

"Don't you mean, THIS Quarian? Oh, and I do have a name, its Tali'Zorah nar Rayya!" I snapped.

My angry voice seemed to have drawn everyone's attention as everyone turned to look at me, even the krogan seemed to take interest.

"Its her! The Quarian Dr. Michel was talking about!" the turian exclaimed.

"Yeah...I'm here. Serviceman Slade sent me here." I said with a heavy sigh as I glanced downwards.

The man I identified as Commander Shepard took a step towards me and spoke in a soft voice "Well? What happened? Why isn't Slade here?"

I only gave another sigh as I began to explain everything to everyone, watching as his eyes widened in surprise...

xXx

I grunted as I ignored the pain throbbing in my legs and back, even though I could manage to regenerate my wounds, they would just shoot me again, starting the pain all over again. They continued to drag me through the alleys, I noticed they were dragging me into a warehouse, glancing around as much as I could afford, I noticed the warehouse was abandoned. The leader turian, Duron signaled the other turians dragging me to bring me up to my feet as both of my feet were still wounded, the constant wounds taking its toll on the regeneration, and I became even more hungrier every time I regenerated. Barely able to stand as they clamped some shackles onto my wrists behind my back and dropped me to my knees. "Comfortable, freak?" Duron coldly said as I glanced over to the chains connecting my shackles to the floor. "Don't think about it, these chains have held krogans, I doubt even a freak like you can break them, you would more likely break your own bones instead." Duron added as he gestured the others to bring up something I recognized as a camera drone used for live feeds. They also had brought up a type of holoscreen underneath the camera drone. One of the other turians gave an affirmative nod as he returned to his position to my left behind me pointing his assault rifle to my head. Duron activated his omni-tool, I noticed the camera drone and the holoscreen both powered up and a slight bar confirmed the sync between the camera drone, holoscreen and Duron's omni-tool. "Now smile for the camera!" Duron cackled as he pressed activated an unseen command on his omni-tool.

xXx

"This meeting of the Council is ad-" but the Asari Councilor didn't finish her words as a loud buzzing flared from one of the holoscreens. The Councilors seemed to be confused as the holoscreen momentarily buzzed in screeching noise before making connection to the unknown invading link. "Not if I have anything to say about it." the cold voice of a turian rang out as the figure of Duron appeared on the holoscreen.

"What is the meaning of this!" the Turian Councilor questioned as he glared at the offending turian on the hacked holoscreen.

"Ahh, I'm just here to congratulate the human on his promotion on the behalf of my boss, whose you have just 'demoted'." the turian replied as he coldly stares at Commander Shepard.

I fidgeted nervously with my hands as I watched the event unfold.

"You! What have you done with Slade!" Commander Shepard roared as he pointed accusingly at the turian.

"Ahh, no introductions? I'm wounded, human. My name is Duron, as for your friend, well, lets say he's a bit...tied up" Duron said as he stepped to the side, revealing the battered form of Dakkben Slade for everyone to see.

_KEELAH!_

**A/N: Looks like Slade finds himself captured by Saren's forces instead of the original mercenary group he planned. What is up with Slade's past he refuses to remember? And, will the Councilor Velarn dismiss the claim of needing to rescue Slade?**

**Also to explain Slade's regeneration, it would burn up his energy to regenerate at speeds beyond even Krogan is capable of. Meaning that he is capable of burning more calories than a biotic could due to his modified physique. Also, every time he regenerates, it would take its toll, especially if he is constantly wounded which why Duron had his men constantly wound Slade to wear him out and make his regeneration slower. **

**Sidenote: Updated this due to noticing several errors. Might consider finding a beta writer willing to put up with my antics. Also, Review!**


	5. Rescue

**A/N: The last time we were here, Dakkben had found himself captured by Duron and his men, who happened to be working for Saren. Take your time to read, and review afterwards! Oh, btw. I decided to try out writing this chapter entirely in third person, make sure to give feedback on if its better than the first person of the previous chapters. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and its characters. They are owned by Bioware. But however, I do own the OC, Dakkben Slade, along with some OC's I might put in.**

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><p>Chapter 5: Rescue<p>

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><p>Everyone, even the Turian Councilor was silent as they observed Dakkben as he glared at Duron. Duron merely chuckled coldly before motioning for one of the turians behind Dakkben. The turian behind Dakkben slammed the butt off his assault rifle to the back of Dakkben's head, receiving an angry jerk in response from Dakkben as he tried to fight back.<p>

"See? Your friend is nothing but a freak. An animal that knows nothing but to kill." Duron coldly snapped as he glares at Shepard.

Tali could only fidget nervously as she watches Dakkben struggle against his shackles while being brutally beaten. She felt an slight bump on her shoulder, and she turned to face the source of the bump. The krogan, Wrex merely shakes his head before saying.

"Your friend will survive. He is strong." Wrex bluntly said as he watches the event unfold on the holoscreen.

"I-I hope so..." Tali meekly replies as she continued to wring her hands together.

"STOP THAT!" the deep, commanding voice of Shepard roared out loud.

Duron only chuckled before motioning for the turians behind Dakkben to cease.

"Feeling sentimental, aren't we, human?" Duron replied.

"What do you want?" Shepard bluntly said, straight to the point.

"What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT! I WANT EVERYONE TO KNOW ABOUT THIS GODDAMN FREAK!" Duron roared as he kicked Dakkben across his side.

Dakkben only stiffened in response, not giving any sounds in reply.

"SEE! IF HE WAS HUMAN, HE WOULD BE SCREAMING LIKE A NEWBORN FROM THE PAIN! BUT NO...HE TAKES IT LIKE IT IS NOTHING! MONSTER!" Duron continued as he continued to kick Dakkben's side.

Dakkben refused to give the enraged turian pleasure in knowing that he did feel the pain, intensively.

"ENOUGH!" Shepard roared as he took a step closer to the holoscreen.

Duron only sighed as he took a step away from Dakkben, he took a moment before motioning one of the other turians off screen to hand him something. He brought the datapad in front of the camera, waving it back and forth.

"Do you know what I have on this datapad?" Duron darkly remarked as he skimmed over his datapad.

"What?" Shepard said as his hands clenched into fists in anger and frustration.

"I have here the proof...that your so called _human_ friend" Duron said with venomous distaste of the word 'human'. "That he is Cerberus! That your so called friend was an engineered freak to be used to wipe out anything that stood in the way of Cerberus' goals."

What Duron said elicited gasps from several people including Ash and Captain Anderson. Shepard's fists only clenched even further tighter as he took all of his willpower to not go on a warpath. Not only was this Duron had captured one of his teammates, but he is accusing Slade of being part of an infamous terrorist organization.

In everyone's surprise, Dakkben only laughed at Duron's words. Duron turned to face Dakkben with an angry glare as he approached Dakkben.

"Care to tell us why this amuses you so much, freak?" Duron snapped.

"Eh? Is that so-called information of your up-to-date? I left Cerberus a while ago after one of my assignments went haywire." Dakkben smugly said as he took a deep breath.

"Is that so, human? Care to tell us why?" Duron inquired as he motioned to the camera, indicating that the others wanted to know as well.

Dakkben only glanced up to the camera, or more specifically, Tali. Giving a small sad smile, he only replied "Hmmmm. Sure. If I'm going to start, might as well do it right. It all began when I..."

xXx

_Dakkben sighed as he got off the shuttle, his omni-tool beeped as he did so. Shaking his head, he activated it. The orange glow of the hologram resonated as the link was established. _

"_Remember, Operative Slade. You must get into the Blue Suns base and eliminate any obstacle in your path. Make sure to keep the environmental damage to the Factory to minimum. We want to take over, not destroy. Godspeed." The cold calculating voice of Illusive Man resonated before the link was quickly ended as it began._

_Dakkben only sighed again as he began to walk towards the direction he was given. Pushing his way though the overgrowth of the trees and vines, he could smell the pollution in the air get stronger as he continued. Using his strength to easily cut through the resisting vines as he traveled. He made his way to an overlook on a cliff that was easily ten stories high. He let out a soft whistle at the sight he had before him. The base he was sent in to single-handily capture was not just a factory, it was a massive fortress. Its walls were made out of thick gray mason stone that dwarfed the large trees that had grown around it. There was several smokestacks located in the center, the dark pollution lingered above it, giving it a slight doomsday feel as Dakkben could see several men patrol the top of the walls. The men had the typical blue armor with the trademark Blue Suns symbol painted on the chest piece._

"_Capture a factory? That place's a goddamn fortress. Can't blow the walls down. I could try climbing up it, better make it quick." Dakkben muttered to himself as he looked through his inventory. He had his pistol, assault rifle, shotgun, couple grenades, a couple packs of medi-gel and two titanium military-grade machetes. _

"_Could use the machetes to climb up, could come in handy in close combat as well." Dakkben sighed as he put everything away and slung the machetes on each of his shoulders._

_He looked over the cliff, it had a steep slide down to the bottom, he took a deep breath before jumping off the cliff. He quickly took out one of his machetes and took it in both of his hands before slamming its blade into the steep slide just as he got to nearly a story away from the ground. Letting in a breath of relief as he pulled the machete out and landed in a roll on the ground. He slowly stood up as he looked himself over, making sure he didn't lose anything in the drop. Brushing off the dirt from his shoulder he only chuckled to himself before making his way to the fortress wall._

"_Even though I certainly can survive that drop, I would rather not try it during an assignment." He remarked as he took out his another machete as he made a running start at the wall._

_Dakkben jumped as high as his enhanced strength allowed him as he brought both of the machetes down. The machetes making a loud crack as they broke into the stone, Dakkben looked down and calculated that he was at least 1/3 up the wall, meaning that he had to climb up another 20 stories to the top. He pulled out the machete in his left hand as he pulled himself up using the one in his right before slamming the machete back in again. He continued to climb as he continued to keep his eyes on the top, making sure to not attract any Blue Suns mercenaries. As he managed to get nearly to the top, one of the Blue Suns, a batarian, happened to look right over the top and spotted Dakkben. But before the batarian could utter a word of alarm, Dakkben quickly leapt up and grabbed the batarian by his throat, easily crushing it despise the feeble struggles the batarian gave. Dakkben quickly pulled the dead batarian over the edge and let the corpse fall to the ground in a sickening thud as Dakkben made his way over to the top of the wall. He peered over to the other side of the wall, noticing there was several Blue Suns mercenaries walking about, some of them were located in what he assumed to be the mess hall building._

_He glanced over to the right and spotted some stairs leading back to the ground and made a beeline for it. As he approached the stairs, a Blue Sun mercenary made his way up the stairs, in a swift motion, Dakkben used one of his machetes to easily slice through the gap between the mercenary's chest armor and helmet, easily decapitating the mercenary. He quickly grabbed the body along with the head, making sure to slow their decent to the ground to avoid attracting any unwanted attention. Quickly, Dakkben ran over to the door on the building adjacent to the one leading to the mess hall. He opened it, only to find himself facing several rows of assault rifle muzzles facing him._

"_Hands up, human!" a batarian shouted from behind the firing squad. _

"_Must be the leader..." Dakkben quietly muttered to himself as he slowly raised his hands, his bloody machete still in his left hand._

"_Drop it!" the batarian leader ordered. _

_Smiling slightly mischievously, Dakkben complied by dropping the machete with its bladed tip facing the firing squad. The machete fell almost horizontally as Dakkben quickly spun to deliver a spinning kick to the base of the machete's hilt, sending it directly to the chest of the batarian leader. The batarian only let out a surprised gurgle as he fell._

_Taking his opportunity of the firing squad's hesitance, Dakkben primed one of his grenades and tossed it to their feet before taking cover outside of the doorway. The Blue Suns firing squad only screamed as they scrambled over themselves to try to get rid of the grenade, a turian managed to grab it, only to have it explode. Loud screams of pain resonated as the mercenaries were blasted back._

_Dakkben got out of his cover and made his way into the doorway, he quickly covered his nose with his right hand. The turian that had grabbed the grenade had his entire upper section missing, a human who was right to the turian's left had the right half of his skull blasted away, easily spilling the contents onto the concrete floor. One batarian was barely alive as he was the furthest away from the grenade, however, his left arm was badly torn, and his left leg...half way across the hallway. The mercenary could only grasp the bloody stump where his leg used to be before crying out in pain._

_Dakkben pulled out his pistol and aimed it towards the batarian's head before pulling the trigger. He took a slight moment to search the hallway before he found what he was looking for, his machete was still embedded in the chest of the dead batarian leader. Reaching down to grasp the hilt, Dakkben pulled the machete out and made his way down the hallway._

"_I'm surprised that that explosion didn't alert everyone else..." Dakkben muttered to himself as he opened a door, revealing a massive cargo hangar. One of the Blue Suns mercenaries spotted him and shouted out "There he is! Battle Stations!" the mercenary managed to shout out before being cut short by Dakkben's pistol shot slamming to the side of his face, silencing him._

_The other mercenaries didn't waste time and began to fire on Dakkben as Dakkben quickly made his way to take cover behind a conveniently placed cargo crate that was easily ten feet high and was made out of metal. He could hear some of the mercenaries argue amongst themselves. _

"_Damn it! Who the hell left that goddamn crate there!" an angry voice rang out._

"_erm...I did sir..." a meek, flanged voice replied._

"_Then you go up there and flush him out yourself!" the angry voice ordered as Dakkben could hear the nervous shuffling of the turian running to his location. _

_Dakkben sheathed his machete as he timed the footsteps and positioned himself to the side the turian would come around, he could see the telltale sign of the assault rifle muzzle nervously moving from side to side as the turian got to the front of him. Dakkben calmly raised his hands in a neutral manner as the assault rifle in the turian's hands continued to shake slightly. _

"_Tell me, what is your name, turian?" Dakkben calmly said to the nervous turian._

"_Wha-I'm Leio! I'm gonna take you back to the boss!" Leio replied as he took a step closer, the barrel of the assault rifle mere inches from Dakkben's chest._

_Dakkben only chuckled before replying "Easy, rookie. Your safety's still on" as he glanced over to his right, seemingly to not care about Leio's words._

"_What the? You can't trick me! I'm a ten year vet!" Leio snapped at Dakkben. Dakkben only grunted a slight 'whatever' in reply. Then Leio leaned over to look at the side of his assault rifle, taking the break in Leio's concentration, Dakkben grabbed the barrel of the assault rifle with his right hand. Yanking it away from Leio as he slammed his left hand into the chest of the turian. The slam easily knocking the turian to the ground as Dakkben whipped the assault rifle around to point it at the turian's head. Leio only let out a small whimper as he brought out his hands in a surrendering gesture. _

"_How the hell did you survive ten years?" Dakkben asked the stunned turian. But before the turian could reply, he knocked the turian out cold with the butt of his own assault rifle. He sighed as he observed the assault rifle he had taken from Leio, it seemed to be the basic Avenger assault rifle compared to the modified version he had. Dakkben took his modified Avenger and held it in his right hand while still holding Leio's stolen Avenger in his other hand. Taking position right at the edge of the crate, Dakkben took a deep breath before running out._

_The mercenaries shouted out in surprise as Dakkben ran at speeds beyond a human could ever imagine of running. Dakkben started to fire both of the Avengers from the hip, taking out two mercenaries at once as he ran to the left, avoiding the other mercenaries gunfire. He noticed there was a crate hanging from one of the cranes right above a group of Blue Suns seemingly to be oblivious of the plan in Dakkben's mind. Dakkben used his modified Avenger to keep the group of mercenaries pinned as he aimed Leio's Avenger towards the cable holding the crate up, he pulled the trigger, while he missed most of the time, several bullets managed to tear through the cable. _

_The cable stretched as one of the Blue Suns realized what was happening._

"_Wait, we gotta get out of-" but before the mercenary could finish, the cable snapped and the massive crate landed, easily crushing the Blue Sun mercenaries. Dakkben could see the mixture of blue and red blood spill out from the bottom of the heavy crate. _

_Dakkben slung his modified Avenger as he walked past the gory sight. He took the time to look at the Avenger he took from Leio, sighing as he tossed it away, having no need for it. Dakkben spotted some stairs leading upwards, so then he made his way up it. He continued on his path until he got to a door that had a glow of a red hologram, indicating the door had been locked. Dakkben took a deep breath as he dung his hands into the slight crack between two segments of the door, forcing it open at least an inch. That slight opening allowed Dakkben to fully push his hands into the opening and grasped the edges of the door. He grunted in effort during the whine of metal as the door refused to comply to Dakkben's brute strength, tearing the door further open. _

_Dakkben could see a human man in the Blue Suns armor cowering in the corner as he pushed the door completely open. Dakkben made his way to approach the human when the human pulled out a gray device._

"_Don't get any closer! I'll blow this place sky high!" the suicidal human screamed._

_That threat seemed to register in Dakkben's mind as he stopped in his approach._

"_Why? Don't you value your life?" Dakkben questioned as he took a close look at the gray device the Blue Suns human had in his hands. The device seemed to be a typical detonator, hell even with a big damn red button on the top which is awfully close to being pressed by its wielder. _

"_I do! But I value my wife and kids' lives more than mine! I was ordered to liquidize this factory to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands. And...you come along and ruin everything! I should be a hundred miles away from here, not stuck in here!" the human replied as his hands began to shake._

_Dakkben glanced around the room, he noticed there was a glass window leading outside. But the window was right above a ten story drop before hitting the ground. He glanced back to the human and sighed._

"_Fine. Blow it. I won't be responsible for innocent blood on my hands." Dakkben sighed as he crossed his arms._

_The Blue Sun mercenary seemed to be surprised by Dakkben's comment, he seemed to ponder something before glancing towards the window Dakkben was previously observing._

"_Tell you what, kid. I'll give you a five second head start before I press this..." He said as he gestured to his detonator. He gave Dakkben a sad smile before he began to count aloud._

_Dakkben gave a slight nod in the mercenary's direction before he made the break for the glass window, he brought both of his arms in front of him as he dived out of the window. He could feel the heat of the explosion from behind him as he fell to the ground. He could only groan in agony as he crawled on the ground, he snapped his left leg to the correct angle before giving it the time to heal. He slowly got up to the feet in time to be blasted away from the secondary explosion from the factory. The explosion sent him nearly through the stone wall of the fortress, making a massive crater in its side._

_Dakkben could only pull himself out of the crater and began to hobble as fast as he could despise having several broken bones. He could feel the bones in his leg strengthening as it corrected itself to its original position. His tissue on his back began to knit as he tore his melted Onyx armor chest piece off as his pace increased. He stood upright as he pushed his spine into the correct alignment as a loud crunch reverberated in his ears. _

_Luckily his omni-tool survived the ordeal as he activated it to request an evacuation. He knew he was going to get chewed out by Officer Lawson when he reported that he failed in capturing the base, intact. But he didn't care, he was affected by the human mercenary's sacrifice, that he was willing to die so the Blue Suns mercenaries wouldn't kill his family. Family was something he didn't have, something he wished he had._

_He made his way to the given evacuation coordinates, waiting for a moment he pulled out his machete, it being the only equipment he had that survived other than his omni-tool. Chuckling to himself, he just realized he left his other machete embedded back into the wall when he had to keep the batarian mercenary from giving away his position so soon. He could hear the faint hum of a shuttle getting closer, he turned to face the direction the sound was coming from. _

_He could see the shuttle get closer as it made its way to his location. It hovered over the ground for a moment before landing on the ground with a soft thud. The door leading into the shuttle opened and a very pissed off Officer Lawson got out of it. Marching down the ramp to the ground, she got closer and closer to Dakkben. Barely stopping just short of running into Dakkben, she realized that he still had his machete in his left hand and, and he was gripping it tightly. _

"_Do you have any idea how badly you screwed up?" Miranda coldly stated as her cold blue eyes stared into Dakkben's deep silver eyes._

"_Not like I could do anything about it, but yeah." Dakkben said as he glanced back to the shuttle, wanting to leave and eat something._

_Miranda only sighed as she grasped something behind her, in almost instant motion she jabbed a syringe into Dakkben's neck during Dakkben's moment of distraction._

_In surprise, and rage of Miranda's betrayal, Dakkben pushed Miranda backwards as hard as he could before he found himself stumbling to the ground. Miranda managed to form a biotic barrier around herself to absorb part of Dakkben's retaliatory attack before being launched to the shuttle. Sliding to the ground, she had blood dripping from her mouth as she applied Medi-gel to herself._

"_Surprised? Operative Slade? We know your metabolism made you impervious to anything biological or chemical, but...not to a combination of both. A combination of the powerful acid of a Thresher Maw and a potent paralyzing venom synthesized from many different species of animals can kill anything, even a krogan. But you...it makes a perfect immobilizer for you." She cruelly explained as she stood up back to her feet._

_Chuckling to herself, Miranda walked over to Dakkben's immobilized body before gesturing several other Cerberus operatives from the shuttle to come forth. Several of them had tanks filled with some kind of liquid. _

"_This is your punishment for your failure. You won't die, we made sure of that. But however, you will suffer." Miranda coldly said in pleasure as the Cerberus operatives poured the liquid on Dakkben's body. Dakkben's eyes moving back and forth from Officer Lawson to the Cerberus operatives, the liquid burning against his skin. His eyes snapped open as one of the operatives held out a lighter to Miranda. _

_Miranda took the lighter before opening it. She sparked it aflame as she waved it in front of her as she looked down to Dakkben's terrified eyes. "The Illusive Man sends his regards, freak." She said just before she tossed the lighter at Dakkben. The liquid caught on fire as Dakkben felt his entire body roast from the searing flames. Despise his immobilized state, Dakkben was able to somehow, somehow open his mouth and let loose a loud bloodcurdling scream. _

xXx

Everyone seemed deathly silent as Dakkben told his tale. The C-Sec officer was to her right so she looked over to him, Garrus seemed to be surprised and she could hear him whispering to himself quietly 'Spirits'. Shaking her head, Tali glanced over to Wrex, Wrex seemed to be both shocked and strangely enough, excited. She looked over to Kaiden and Ash, they were silent during the whole tale. The both of them glanced at each other and she could see the terrified expression on Ash's face as she watched Dakkben. Kaiden seemed to be as surprised as she was, but he seemed to be more concerned about Ash's well being than to listen to Dakkben completely. She could see Captain Anderson's usually dark skin had turned ashen pale as his face seemed to twist in anger at Cerberus. Ambassador Udina seemed to be indifferent as he typed into his omni-tool, only taking a moment to glance around before returning to his omni-tool. She had half of a mind to run over and smack him to make him pay more attention, but she decided against it.

After all, she didn't want to make things worse than they already are. She watched the Councilors, the Salarian seemed to be more and more fascinated in Dakkben's abilities. The Turian seemed to be growing more and more disgusted, and actually gasped in surprise when Dakkben had spared the turian, Leio. The Asari seemed to be remaining neutral, but Tali could tell that she was curious about Dakkben, she even gave a slight smile as Dakkben spoke of refusing to be responsible for deaths of innocents.

She finally glanced over to Shepard. Shepard seemed to be in both shock and awe during Dakkben's tale. As Dakkben talked of his initial betrayal by Cerberus' bitch, Miranda Lawson, and how he suffered intense pain for his 'failure', everyone seemed to gasp at once, even Ambassador Udina who seemingly to be not listening. Tali could see the hidden rage in Shepard as his whole body shakes, barely keeping himself in check.

"And there you have it." Dakkben finished, taking a moment to take a breath for once after his story.

Duron seemed to be wordless as he paced back and forth, constantly stopping to read whatever he had on his datapad. One of the turians from behind Dakkben was noticeably shaking in fear as he was barely able to keep the assault rifle aimed at Dakkben's head. Dakkben only casually glanced back to the frightened turian and gave a small grunt, visibly making the turian jump, drawing a snort of laughter from Wrex.

"I-is h-he telling the t-truth?" The frightened turian stuttered as he tried to keep himself from shaking with no avail.

Duron only gave a nod as he continued to pace back and forth, visibly aggravated. The frightened turian only seemed to become even more frightened as his shaking became even more visible as he was barely keeping his assault rifle pointing in the general direction of Dakkben's head.

"What's matter? Freak got your tongue?" Dakkben quipped as he shifted from his kneeling position to a sitting position.

Duron only glanced back to Dakkben before snorting an angry response "How is this possible? You are telling the truth, yet Saren says you are a cold, calculating xenophobic".

Dakkben only shakes his head before replying "You'll be surprised how often someone lies to get things done."

Duron was enraged by Dakkben's words as he marched to Dakkben and grabbed him by his throat with his talons. Pulling Dakkben up to his height, nearly lifting him up in the process, both of their eyes met, angry turian against calm superhuman.

Tali could see Captain Anderson whispering quietly to Ambassador Udina as they both glanced from Ambassador Udina's omni-tool to watch the event unfold. Wrex seemed to be amused by Duron's anger as he muttered to Garrus "Human got a quad. Hell, I might as well start calling him Krogan from now on." Garrus could only nod in response as he continued to watch the face off between Duron and Dakkben.

"Are you calling Saren Arterius a liar?" Duron growled, his face mere inches from Dakkben as his talons began to dig deep into Dakkben's throat, resulting in slight drips of blood.

Dakkben seemed to be not bothered apart from a slight grunt before replying "Yes. The question is, do you realize it?"

Duron seemed to be taken off guard by Dakkben's response before saying "What, freak?"

"For the last ten minutes, both C-Sec and Alliance Marines are working together and is about to storm this place. You have at least ten, fifteen, maybe twenty strong. But there is more than fifty pissed off soldiers outside, ready to knock on your door with heavy firepower. The question is, will you surrender peacefully, or die fighting?" Dakkben said as he smirked at Duron's surprised face, or at least the turian equivalent of surprised face.

Duron seemed to think over his words for a moment before smirking "You lie, freak. You couldn't have given anyone orders to get here!" Duron roared.

Dakkben only shakes his head before replying "Never said I was the one doing the talking. NOW ANDERSON!"

Captain Anderson pressed an unseen command on Ambassador Udina's omni-tool and over at Dakkben's location, a loud explosion tore through the warehouse. Dakkben pulled his left leg back and then kicked Duron across the chest, sending Duron into the camera, knocking it sideways as it landed onto the ground.

Dakkben only could smirk to himself as he could see the turian dominated C-Sec and human Alliance Marines work side by side as they quickly cleared out the warehouse of Duron's men. Duron himself wasn't as lucky as he was personally shackled and taken into C-Sec custody.

One of the Alliance Marines and another from C-Sec walked up to remove the shackles from Dakkben's wrists. The Marine only shakes his head at the C-Sec Officer's attempt to put Dakkben in handcuffs.

"Didn't you hear how Cerberus treated him for refusing to be responsible of innocent deaths? He _was_ Cerberus, not one right now. Besides, Captain Anderson says that the Council wants him to meet them before they decide what to do with him." The Marine explained as he took hold of the C-Sec Officer's handcuffs and hands it back. The C-Sec officer merely nods as the both of them escorted Dakkben Slade out of the warehouse.

_Ironic isn't it? Me, a ex-Cerberus is responsible for having humans and turians work together. Life sure is confusing sometimes..._

xXx

Dakkben could only mutter to himself as both the Alliance Marine and C-Sec Officer escorted him through the Citadel to the Presidium to be taken from there to be escorted to meet the Councilors. He looked back down to himself, muttering in disdain. His blue jeans were mostly torn in the lower legs, and thankfully, there wasn't much of tearing in the areas above. His formerly white tank top was now grime covered and there was a massive hole where one mercenary shot him in the back and tore out the front, the areas around the hole was covered in crimson blood that had dried up. His leather jacket was in the worst, his left sleeve had been torn off completely by Duron when he kicked him away. There was multiple bullet wounds on the back of his jacket, shredding the once pristine leather padding into nothingness. He noticed that most, if not all people stared at him with wonder and horror, he wasn't surprised, after all, he did look like he got into a street brawl with ten krogans barehanded.

The Marine and the C-Sec officer had a cab waiting for him as all three got into the cab. Dakkben being slightly uncomfortably located between the Marine and the Officer. There was an awkward moment of silence as all three waited for the cab to reach their destination, the Council.

The cab finally reached the destination and the C-Sec Officer got out first, Dakkben got out after with the Alliance Marine behind him. Both C-Sec and Alliance escorted Dakkben up the stairs, Dakkben could see Kaiden, Ash, Shepard. He smiled in the inside as he saw that Tali did make it to Ambassador Udina. He noticed another C-Sec Officer that the Officer escorting Dakkben knew as Detective Garrus Vakarian. There was a Blood Pack krogan with vertical scars on his right side of his face, and that krogan was nodding his head in respect before snorting "Well, you must be the smallest krogan I've ever seen."

Dakkben only smirked before replying "Well, thanks. Don't worry, I'll do my duty to keep the numbers up."

The krogan only roared in laughter before replying "Name's Wrex, krogan. I assume you are Slade. Fine name, strong, and rhymes with blade...".

Dakkben could only shake his head in amusement as he walked past Wrex towards Shepard. Shepard seemed to be both angry and curious, Shepard only shakes his head and motioned for Dakkben to walk ahead. Dakkben glanced over to where Shepard wanted him to go, right up to the place where he co-

_Wait. I gotta talk to the Council? Oh god...Hope they don't put me in prison. Granted, I didn't kill any innocents, I made sure of that. But, I killed whole a lot of people, bad people._

Dakkben could only swallow in an effort to hide his fear as he walked up to the railing, both Alliance Marine and C-Sec Officer right behind him. He could only look up to face the Councilors, he could see the Salarian was fascinated, the Turian was disgusted and the Asari seemed to be compassive.

The Turian Councilor only stares at Dakkben venomously before glancing over to the other Councilors and saying "I still don't understand why we are talking to this freak. He works for Cerberus! He should be put in prison and executed!"

Tali could only gasp as she barely kept herself from screaming at the Turian Councilor as he insulted Dakkben. Not only had Dakkben saved Tali's life, but he had suffered so much worse than death at the hands of Cerberus, if being set on fire wasn't the worst punishment, she didn't know of anything else worse.

"That's enough Valern" the Asari Councilor interrupted as she glanced over to the Turian Councilor. The Turian Councilor stopped with a huff as he grumbled to himself angrily under his breath.

"Will you answer our questions?" The Asari Councilor asked as nicely she could.

Dakkben only gives a slight nod before giving a glance in Councilor Valern's direction.

"How can you survive? What did Cerberus did to you? Why did you leave? And why are you still here, instead of trying to escape?" the Salarian Councilor questioned rapidly.

Dakkben pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a moment to think through his answers. "One: I can heal at speeds beyond even the krogan, no offense Wrex." Dakkben said, sparing a glance back to Wrex, who only gives a slight grunt in response. "Two: Don't know what exactly since they kept me in the dark about it. Three: I left because I was tired of being thrown to the varrens every time I put the lives of innocents before the mission. Four: I want to help, I want to find the bastard responsible for Eden Prime." Dakkben finished as he breathed in a sigh.

The Salarian Councilor seemed to be satisfied, albeit bothered that he didn't get information he wanted about how Dakkben got his abilities.

The Asari Councilor glanced over to Shepard before motioning him to step up next to Dakkben. "Spectre Shepard, I must remind you, Spectres can recruit anyone for their mission regardless of who they are, or what they used to be." she said as she glanced over to Dakkben.

Shepard only glances over to Dakkben before sighing. Shepard was pondering something deeply, perhaps he would trust Slade as he seemed to be honest in his desire to find Saren. But he wasn't sure since Slade had openly admitted he worked with Cerberus in the past, and he was shocked to learn that Slade had been punished so extremely for refusing to sacrifice innocent lives. That and there was something deep within himself that wanted Slade on his team, something that kept pulling at the back of his head. Something familiar, Slade did look familiar from where, he wasn't sure.

"Slade..." Shepard began, catching Dakkben's attention as Dakkben turned to face Shepard. Worry was evident in Dakkben's face as he waited patiently for Shepard's response. "If you had a choice, to save yourself but everyone else will die, or to save everyone else at the cost of your own life, what will you choose?" Shepard continued.

Dakkben quickly replied "I would rather die first than to let people die on my watch, especially when there's innocent people involved."

There was no doubt, no hesitation, and not even a trace of deception in Slade's voice. That gave all Shepard needed to make his decision. Shepard turned to face the Councilors and spoke "I will take him. If...he proves himself to be trustworthy, when the mission is over. Give him pardons."

Slade was taken off guard by Shepard's willingness to have Slade forgiven for his ties to Cerberus which sounds pretty good compared to what they usually do to terrorists. Councilor Velern seemed to be ready to argue before the Asari Councilor interrupted "Yes. We will give him pardons for his involvement when he proves to be trustworthy and loyal to you. Finally, the meeting is adjourned."

With those words, the Councilors left the meeting along with the Alliance Marine and C-Sec Officer. The Alliance Marine gave a quick pat on Dakkben shoulders along with the C-Sec's mutters of 'Good luck' as the both of them left.

Both Slade and Shepard gave a nod to each other in reply as the both of them made their way back to the others. Captain Anderson patted Slade on the shoulder before saying "At first when I realized you were Cerberus, I wanted to break in there and drag you to prison. But, honestly...when you explained how badly they treated you when you failed that assignment. I-I understand now why you never talked much about your time before joining the Alliance".

Dakkben could only give a knowing nod in response as both Captain Anderson and Ambassador Udina moved to talk to Shepard. He noticed that Tali was constantly fidgeting with her hands so he decided to check on her.

"You okay, Tali?" Dakkben asked in a concerned voice.

"Huh? Oh, hey Dakkben. I'm fine, its just that..." she trailed off as she noticed the massive hole in his chest and the dried blood around it. "Keelah! What happened to that shirt?" she asked.

Dakkben glanced at her in confusing before looking down to see the massive hole in his shirt and gave out a chuckle. Tali only looked at him in concern before moving to apply Medi-Gel only to have Dakkben gently grabbed her small wrists.

"Don't worry, I heal better than the krogan. I'll be fine" Dakkben said, earning an approving grunt from Wrex. "Although, I do need something to eat, I'm _starving._" He said as his stomach growled in time as he emphasized on the word 'starving', earning a giggle from Tali. He did like that giggle, something about it helped him forget and think on the present, helped him feel...normal.

Tali was about to say something in response when Shepard interrupted "Slade, Tali. Captain Anderson's giving us the Normandy so we could get to-oh god! Get a medic!" Shepard said as he finally noticed the hole in Dakkben's chest. Dakkben only raised an eyebrow at Shepard before Shepard face palmed as he realized Slade wasn't entirely human.

"Sorry, Slade. A krogan, I can get used to. But you...are going to take a while." Shepard muttered, earning a laugh from everyone, even Wrex seemed to be slightly amused.

**A/N: Now everyone knows that Slade used be Cerberus and was an experiment, it might lead to some changes around the Normandy. Also, I'm thinking about including a segment with Doctor Chakwas to explain what happened to Dakkben. But...they won't find out that Slade's Shepard's brother, yet. Click that review button! I know you want to.**


	6. Examinations

**A/N: I've now got a Beta reader willing to help out on my fic, so here's a thanks to ya, LivingLow. Make sure to read his fics, Hellhound and This Is It, they are epic.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect and its characters. They are owned by Bioware. But however, I do own the OC, Dakkben Slade, along with some OC's I might put in.**

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><p>Chapter 6: Examinations<p>

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><p>Dakkben could only sigh as he stood in the Med-bay, standing awkwardly under the stern glare of Doctor Chakwas. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw Tali and Shepard, seemingly amused at his predicament.<p>

Tali was about to leave when instead Doctor Chakwas spoke: "Uhuh, young lady. You aren't going anywhere. Last time I let someone I was going to examine leave, I couldn't find him for nearly 16 hours."

Dakkben chuckled sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head before replying: "Uh, sorry, Tali. That's probably me."

Tali only sighed as she sat down on one of the medical beds near the doorway and turned to watch both Dakkben and Doctor Chakwas. Doctor Chakwas, amused by Dakkben's awkward apology turned to one of her examination machines. Shepard continued to stand in the doorway, watching Doctor Chakwas move from machine to machine while Dakkben cautiously kept a cautious eye on the doctor.

"You know you don't have to be here, right?" Slade asked Shepard as he moved slightly away from Doctor Chakwas.

"Yes, but I am curious. I want to know what Cerberus did to you so I can know if you're truly capable of what you say you are." Shepard relied as he moved to lean on the wall next to the doorway, a slight smirk on his face.

"Yes...Shepard" Slade said with annoyance as he sighed deeply.

Doctor Chakwas suddenly approached Dakkben and said "Off! Take your clothes off!"

"Wait, what!" Dakkben gulped as Tali suddenly became very interested in an invisible spot on the floor.

"Oh, don't worry handsome. You can keep your pants on," Doctor Chakwas added with a slightly mischievous smile.

"Thank god!/Keelah be thanked!" Dakkben and Tali said in unison. The both of them glanced at each other and laughed awkwardly.

Dakkben took off his torn leather jacket before tossing it into the waste receptacle, revealing his well-toned, muscular arms. Tali stared at his arms as each tendon seemed to flex and contract at each motion.

Dakkben brought his hands to the edges of his dirtied tank top and peeled it off, showing the glistening skin underneath covered in sweat and dried blood. Tossing the dirty tank top into the waste receptacle as he had the leather jacket, Dakkben could feel the gaze of Tali's eyes on him, searching, taking in the details, and felt the heat rise up in the back of his neck.

Tali was awestruck; the soldier, Dakkben wasn't that muscular, but he was well toned and attractive even by quarian standards. She could see Doctor Chakwas notice the same thing and felt something like a fire burning deep within herself: anger...and jealousy. Jealousy that there was another woman staring at the man that risked his own life to protect her from Saren's men.

"Uhhh...Doctor? Can we continue sometime soon?" Dakkben said as he waved his hands in front of Doctor Chakwas; who seemed to be off in some kind of day dreaming state.

"Wha...? Yes! We'll continue now," Doctor Chakwas said as her cheeks became red, drawing chuckles from both Dakkben and Shepard.

"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you were imagining about jumping him!" Shepard teased as Doctor Chakwas' cheeks became even redder. Chakwas gave an exasperated sigh in response.

Tali thought about Dakkben's toned chest, his muscular arms wrapping around her, his skin pressing against her skin and his hands at-

_NO! He's human. I'm a quarian__, it can't work. But...he did say he was no longer human...what if he feels the same thing? I...like him._

Tali only clenched her fists together to keep herself from pushing Doctor Chakwas away and screaming at the top of her lungs that she liked Dakkben. No, it was something else, something more. Desire?

"Alright, I'll ask you some questions for me to record," Doctor Chakwas said as she picked up a datapad, snapping Tali out of her daze.

"Go on ahead, doc. Make sure to get the nasty ones out first," Dakkben joked as he crossed his arms.

"Name?"

"Dakkben Slade"

Doctor Chakwas typed in the reply on her datapad.

"Age?"

"Uhhh, 23, I think. Never could keep track of my birthdays."

Shepard stiffened as he heard Slade's down he began to ponder to himself.

_That makes him about the same age as..._

Shepard shook his head as he glanced back to both Slade and Doctor Chakwas.

"Home planet?"

"I...don't know. Can't remember back any further than 13 years ago. Amnesia."

Dakkben heard the soft gasp from Tali as Doctor Chakwas seemed to be sympathetic. Shepard, even more confused, pondered his thoughts again.

_Mindoir was 13 years ago. __Maybe he-_

"What is the furthest back you can remember?" Shepard asked as he observed Slade.

Slade only sighed as he replied "Hmmm. Woke up strapped on a tray. A bunch of Cerberus scientists were poking and prodding me with needles.

They told me that my entire family was slaughtered by batarian slavers and that I was hurt so bad that they had to put me through the program to save my life.

What a bunch of bullshit. They kept me in that goddamn prison for five years, constantly tearing me apart only to rebuild me with something else.

They only let me out to put me through trials. One time I was pumped full of thresher maw acid and thrown into a pit full of hungry varren.

It wasn't until the factory event that I managed to escape. Then I lied about my age in order to get into the Alliance."

"Wait. You said you don't remember anything; does that mean Dakkben Slade isn't your real name?" Doctor Chakwas asked as she felt compassion for the man.

"No." Dakkben said flatly, his usual friendly demeanor turning cold.

"Keelah..." Tali whispered to herself. She wanted to say something, do something to help the man as he had done for her.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way to make them pay," Shepard offered as he approached Slade.

"I-thanks, Shepard," Slade said, his mood lightening as Shepard gave Slade a pat on the shoulder.

Doctor Chakwas gave a soft smile before returning to her datapad, the datapad which beeped as she typed.

"Alright, Slade. Step on up to the scanner. Let's see what the baddies did to you," the Doctor said as she gestured for Dakkben to step into the scanner.

Slade only gave a slight nod as he acquiesced to her request. He stood still as the scanner whirred around him, giving a wink to Tali, who shyly waved back. The scanner beeped once it's work was completed, and Doctor Chakwas began to read out the results. She gasped in surprise and her eyes widened.

xXx

Dakkben glanced around the communication room as he awkwardly stood at the center of attention. Once what Doctor Chakwas found out about what exactly Cerberus did to him, she wanted to discuss the news to everyone on the ground team along with few others on board the Normandy. He had to take a shower and change into a fresh set of Alliance-issued clothes. His clothes were different from normal Alliance uniforms since he only wore a black set of jeans, dark navy blue tank top and a set of black fingerless gloves.

He noticed Tali, sitting right near to where he was, give him a nod. Nearby, Doctor Chakwas helped Joker make his way to his seat using his crutches.

"Hey, I wasn't aware we had another cripple flying this ship," Dakkben joked. The crowd chuckled softly as Joker proceeded to flip the finger at Dakkben, earning a disapproving glare from Doctor Chakwas.

"Alright, everyone here?" Shepard asked. There were murmurs as everyone gave a signal of confirmation of sort, along with Wrex's loud snort.

"Good. You can start, Doctor," Shepard added as he allowed Doctor Chakwas to step in front of the crowd.

"Some one you may already know, Dakkben Slade. " She said, giving a knowing glance to Slade, who simply nodded in reply. "He was taken by Cerberus at the age of ten and he was put through agonizing experiments and cruel trials," she said. There were murmurs of surprise and anger throughout the room; even Navigator Pressly muttered several words of insult against Cerberus.

Doctor Chakwas shook her head as she continued: "We have noticed that Dakkben's cells divide a hundred times faster than those of a normal human. This allows him to heal from wounds that would be virtually fatal for anyone else, even Wrex."

"At the age of 15, he was sent to capture a mercenary factory, but when he failed-because he refused to sacrifice innocent lives-Cerberus set him on fire. How long was it again? Five, six hours?" Doctor Chakwas continued as she turned to face Dakkben.

Dakkben sighed and glanced downward before replying: "Seven. It was the worst thing I've ever experienced. And trust me, I've experienced pretty much every method of death out there."

Everyone, even Wrex, seemed to be sympathetic in their own way; some of them shed a single tear of sadness, while others simply covered their mouths in shock. Even Ash walked up and gave Dakkben a tight bear hug that would've snap a normal man in half.

Tali could feel the jealousy screaming inside of her as she watched the human woman hug the man she liked. She would've gone up there and torn her away from him herself had she not seen Dakkben was looking in her direction. He shrugged.

"Ash?" Dakkben asked as he began to feel the circulation in his back slow down.

"Sorry, Slade. You're the closest thing I have to a brother," Ash replied. She finally released Dakkben from the hug and quickly moved back to where she had been, next to Kaiden.

Tali sighed in relief as she now realized that the human, Ash, didn't think of her Dakkben like that. Watching Dakkben receive words of compassion from others, she was surprised at her possessive thoughts about the superhuman.

"Alright, at the age of 15, Dakkben was able to join the Alliance due to his physique being so altered from the experiments, he was able to easily pass himself off as a full-grown adult," Doctor Chakwas continued as she looked back into her datapad.

"According to the results of the scanner, Dakkben's DNA has been extensively modified. I-I'm not even sure where it began and where it end. Technically, he is a whole different person than he was before being taken," She explained as she brought out a large metallic container and a small plastic tube filled with paste.

"Not only has Dakkben's DNA had been radically changed, his metabolism has evolved to a point where he can actually consume both Levo and Dextro based products," Doctor Chakwas said as she handed the plastic tube to Dakkben.

Dakkben's stomach growled, drawing some chuckles from the crowd, and he ripped open the plastic tube. Pouring the paste into his mouth, the disgust was evident on his face; the texture was completely revolting and there was no flavor.

_Is this what it's like for Tali? Everyday?_

He forced the paste down his throat and emptied the plastic tube. Everyone, even Tali and Shepard, seemed to lean in closer to Dakkben, watching for the telltale signs of an allergic reaction. Dakkben raised an eyebrow in confusion, before he realizing that everyone else wasn't as used to his metabolism as he was.

"No allergic reactions as you can see. Now, as for the Ryncol so generously donated by Wrex. His metabolism allows him to process alcohol before it has a chance to affect him. However, the Ryncol is able to slightly affect him because it is so strong it burns through the tissue as it goes down," Doctor Chakwas continued as she handed Dakkben the large metallic container. He took the container and twisted open the top; instantly the stench of strong alcohol spread throughout the deck as Wrex gave an approving nod.

"Bottoms up," Dakkben muttered as he raised the bottle to his lips and poured it down his throat. The powerful alcohol burned and he could feel the slight buzz. As quickly as it came, the buzz faded and he could feel the alcohol become into fuel for his body.

He crushed the metal bottle and tossed it into a waste receptacle. "Two points, the Mutant wins the game!" Joker commented as he pretended to hold up a microphone to Dakkben who simply glared back. Shepard shook his head in amusement as he watched Dakkben do his best not to let Joker get the better of him.

"Anyways. As we went through the scans, we noticed that the muscle fibers Dakkben had were one-tenth of the normal human size, but they were in fact a hundred times more powerful. This makes him capable of doing superhuman feats. Care to demonstrate for us, Dakkben?" Doctor Chakwas said as she smiled at Dakkben.

Dakkben took a step back as he crossed his arms. He thought about his time during the Alliance and the Cerberus trials he went through "Hmmm. I once fought several angry krogans in hand-to-hand combat, and won," he stated as he rolled his left shoulder.

"You're not just a mutant, you're a goddamn Supermutant, " Joker remarked as he waved his arms around for emphasis.

"Thanks, Joker. No autographs though," Dakkben sarcastically teased as Joker pretended to hand something over to Dakkben to sign, drawing some chuckles of amusements.

"Anyone got questions?" Dakkben asked as he glanced around the crowd. He saw that there was no questions, Dakkben turned to face the doctor. "We finished here?" Dakkben asked Doctor Chakwas. She nodded in reply.

But before anyone could move, Kaiden interrupted, "Wait, Dakkben. What was your worst assignment?"

Dakkben frowned as he spoke one word "Akuze."

"Shit. Sorry, Dakkben," Kaiden replied as he shook his head. Dakkben only nodded in reply as he leaned back, glancing over to meet Ash's concerned eyes. She nodded as she turned to leave alongside Kaidan towards the cargo bay.

Everyone but Tali, Garrus and Wrex seemed to understand and they left for their respective posts, leaving only the ground team in the conference room.

Doctor Chakwas gave Dakkben a soft pat on his shoulder before she left to return to the Med-Bay. Tali could only wonder in confusion about Akuze; she didn't understand much about human history. She did know about Elysium because her people studied Shepard's methods to protect themselves from pirate attacks. But, the way the others hadreacted, it was as if Akuze was something important, or terrifying.

_Keelah...what is Akuze? What happened? Maybe I'll ask Dakkben, maybe he'll explain it._

Shepard cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. "Alright, we'll be going to Therum; I've had the coordinates sent to Joker. We'll be there in about 20 hours. In the meantime try to get as much rest as you can. Tali?" Shepard said as he glanced over to Tali who looked up to meet his glance.

"Y-yes, Commander?" Tali meekly replied, fidgetinh her hands.

"Please, Tali. I like to keep an open-door policy. Just call me Shepard. Anyway, Slade said you are skilled with tech, correct?" Shepard inquired.

_Keelah...where is he going with this..?_

"Y-yes, Com-I mean, Shepard," Tali replied, still fidgeting with her hands.

"Well, Slade mentioned that Engineer Adams down on the Engineering Deck could use some help. So if you like, I could give you the authorization to work in there," Shepard added as he glanced over to Slade who was giving Tali a slightly sheepish smile.

"Wha-really? Wow! Thanks Dakkben! You too Shepard! I-I'm going to get going now. Thanks again!" Tali exclaimed as she quickly got up to run to the elevator, the excitement literally gushing with every step of hers.

"Wow, you were right. She sure loves tech," Shepard commented as he glanced back over to Slade.

"Yeah..." Dakkben replied as his mouth formed a slight smile at the quarian engineer's excitement. He did like to see her happy and excited. He had always felt something since he first saw her back in Chora's Den. He wasn't too sure of what he felt, but it terrified him and yet, aroused him as well. He did like her bubbly personality and that selfless behavior of hers.

_Her skin against mine, my hands around her shoulders, resting on her hips. My lips onto hers-_

But before Slade could finish his thoughts, Shepard snapped him out of it. "Hey, Slade. Mind if I have a minute with you?" He asked Slade, who nodded in reply.

"Alright, follow me," Shepard said as he made his way for the elevator with Slade matching his pace to his left. As the both soldiers got into the elevator, Shepard pressed the button for the secondary crew quarters.

"Shepard? Isn't that where the private quarters are?" Slade asked, curious of what Shepard's intentions were.

"Yes..." Shepard said as he gave a smile. The elevator doors hissed open as they both walked out, Shepard leading Slade to a door with a glowing red hologram on the front of it. Shepard entered in a simple pass code,which opened the door, revealing the room.

There was a desk located to the left of the door with various data-pads and even a terminal console. A workbench was located across the desk with various tools and materials. But the most noticeable thing in the room was the bed; it was a queen sized bed, big enough for two people to fit on comfortably.

"I-is this...?" Slade began as he stared at the bed, awestruck.

"Yes, it's yours. I thought about giving you some privacy after what you went through. Just make sure to change the pass code," Shepard replied as he patted Slade on his shoulder before leaving the stunned superhuman alone in his new room.

xXx

Tali could only barely keep herself awake as she tapped away at her console. She glanced over to the empty console of Engineer Adams. The human engineer was thrilled to let her work on the Normandy's drive core, much to her surprise.

She nearly broke out in giggles when Engineer Adams had threatened the other engineers to have them fired and replaced with more, quote, 'Quarians, the goddamn best engineers I've ever seen. Now get off your lazy ass and get to working!'

She had kept working on her console despite Engineer Adam's concern to have her sleep, which she kindly declined. But before she knew it, she felt more and more tired as she began to lean more and more onto the console. Managing to press the button to save and power the console off, she slumped to the floor, leaning onto the hull near the console.

_Well, guess one minute can't hurt...can't find any better place to sleep though...everywhere else...too quiet..._

xXx

_He stands_ _his ground as Miranda marches to meet him __face to face._

_He can feel the cold of the poison and the burn of the acid running in his veins as he stumbles to the ground, unable to move anything but his eyes._

_His protests are muffled as the Cerberus men pour foul liquid onto his body, the burn of the liquid making him realize what it was._

_Miranda smirks as she lights the lighter in her hand as she tosses it towards him._

_He can_ _feel the searing burns of the flames, as time progresses, the pain refuses to decrease and only worsens__._

_The last thing he can_ _remember before passing out is __the cold, sadistic blue stare of Miranda Lawson boring its path into his skull._

"_The Illusive Man sends his regards.__"_

_GOD NO! ITS A DREAM! WAKE UP! WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!_

Dakkben woke up with a start as he immediately sat upright. Glancing to his bed, he realized he had been thrashing about in his sleep, again. The memories of his past still haunted him despite his best efforts to repress them. He sighed as he got up to put his navy blue tank top on. Dakkben pulled off the covers, taking the effort to make his bed as he smoothed the wrinkles out.

_Hmmm. What to do now? I could check in on the Engineering Deck and see if Tali's still awake._

Making his decision, he made a beeline to the door leading out of his room, taking the time to change the pass code as he did so. He got into the elevator, almost immediately pressing the button for the Engineering Deck. The elevator whirred as Dakkben tapped his foot repeatedly onto on the floor as he thought about what to say to Tali.

_Can't just go and tell her, 'Sorry, I just came down here because I had bad dreams and couldn't sleep at all.'  
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Sighing to himself as the elevator whirred to stop, the doors hissing open as Dakkben made his way out. Searching for Tali, he came upon a sight he wasn't expecting to see.

The quarian engineer was slumped against the hull near her console. Dakkben could see her head tilted forward, her chest steadily rising and falling with each breath. And he could hear soft, incomprehensible sounds emanating from the sleeping quarian.

He nearly laughed out loud as he watched the peacefully sleeping engineer. The quarian wasn't only sleeping, but she was softly muttering to herself as she did so. Dakkben crouched down to Tali's height, his face mere inches from her visor. He could make out the faint outlines of her slender, human-like face as he leaned closer.

Suddenly, Tali woke up. She was extremely confused, she didn't know where she was and there was a blurry figure closing in on her visor. Acting on pure instinct, she charged and tackled the figure to the ground. It wasn't until she heard the familiar grunt that she realized who it was.

"D-Dakkben?" Tali said, her voice trembling.

"Yeah. uhh..." Dakkben said as he glanced over to meet Tali's silver orbs behind her visor, his cheeks becoming redder by the moment.

"Why are you..." Tali asked as she cocked her head to the side, until she looked down and realized what Dakkben was trying to say. When Tali had tackled Dakkben to the ground, she inadvertently ended up straddling Dakkben's hips, grinding right onto his-KEELAH!

She scrambled to get off Dakkben before getting to her feet. She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as she watched Dakkben slowly get onto his feet. Dakkben was more curious than angry, and he was wondering why Tali had so quickly scrambled to get onto her she...blushing?

"Keelah! I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" Tali apologized as she looked away from Dakkben.

Shaking his head, he only gave a comforting smile before saying, "Don't worry. I'm not mad. I would rather to get to know you better before we get to that point, yes?"

Tali nodded as she began to slowly make her way to her console, only to have Dakkben gently hold her by her shoulders before turning her around to face him. Tali kept her glance downwards at his chest, still blushing from moments ago.

"Hey, Tali? Why were you sleeping down here?" Dakkben asked, concerned for Tali's health.

"I, uh, couldn't sleep anywhere else and I was busy working so I decided to take a nap," Tali explained as she began to lean back onto her console, welcoming the gentle hold of Dakkben's hands on her shoulders.

"Uh? I guess so, it is pretty quiet anywhere else," Dakkben commented as he shook his head at his thoughts.

_I guess I could offer her...no, I don't know what she'll even think of it..._

Tali quickly glanced upwards in surprise as she heard his words.

_He knows!_

"W-wait? You can't sleep in the silence either?" Tali asked.

"Yes...I'm so used to hearing the filters running and whirs of machines in my sleep, I can hardly-" Dakkben began.

"Sleep anywhere else," Tali finished, still furiously blushing. She now thought about it more and more, that she and the soldier, Dakkben, were so similar yet different.

Dakkben only gave a soft smile in reply as he gave a soft pat on Tali's shoulder before saying, "Well. Shepard gave me a private room of my own on the secondary crew quarters. You are welcome to use my bed anytime you want. I even have a specialized audio system hooked up that will play various sounds, including filters and drive cores."

"I-thank you, but you are too kind. I don't want to intrude," Tali said as she shook her head.

But Dakkben quickly shushed her before replying, "Don't worry, I insist. I did, after all, promise you that I would help you get through this. Geth or no Geth."

Tali nodded in reply as Dakkben slowly pulled his gentle hold on her shoulders away. Inwardly, she fought to keep herself from pulling his hands back to where they were. She continued to observe Dakkben's face as he did the same to her. She could feel Dakkben's gaze on her face and on her skin. She smiled at him and he smiled in response.

"Alright, Dakkben. I-I'll take that offer," She managed to say as she gestured Dakkben to lead the way.

_Keelah, wh-what am I doing? Taking an offer to sleep in the same room with a man I only knew for few days? __But... he did risk himself to save me, and...he doesn't treat me like a thief or vagrant, but as an equal, someone to be respected. If it was going to be anyone, it would be him._

Meanwhile Dakkben was pondering himself of his choice to allow Tali to share his room. He did like her; she was selfless, thoughtful and kind. She was someone he could trust. Someone he could feel very much at ease with.

As he led Tali to the entrance of his private room, he typed in the pass code as Tali came up. She was nervously wringing her hands back and forth. The doors opened with a hiss as both of them walked in.

"Hang on, Tali," Dakkben said as he turned to type in the door lock console.

"Y-yes?" Tali replied as she looked around Dakkben to see what he was doing.

"Pick a pass code. Keelah or Bosh'tet," Dakkben said as he motioned for Tali to type in the pass code.

_Wait, he wants to have a Kheelish word as his pass code? He is really trying to keep everything simple for me..._

She reached in to type in **'**Keelah' before leaning back out as the console confirmed the command. She turned around and finally observed the room; she could see a desk with data-pads and a terminal console, a workbench with tools and materials. She stared at the bed at the far end of the room, blushing as she realized there was only one bed.

_Does that mean we have to...share?_

"I wouldn't mind sleeping on the floor, I'm probably more used to it than the bed," Dakkben commented as he walked over to the right side of the bed, picking a pillow off it as he carried an spare blanket.

Tali leaned over to the left side of the bed, noticing the plush pillow, the firm mattress and warm blankets. She nearly jumped as noises of filters and the hum of the drive core resonated throughout the room. She glanced over to face the source of the sounds, finding Dakkben setting up his audio system on a counter near the bed.

"There... Is the resonator too loud for you?" Dakkben asked as he turned to face Tali.

"No...that's perfect...Thank you, Dakkben," Tali replied. **S**he could feel tears come to her eyes as she slid into the bed. She could see Dakkben do the same to his makeshift bed as she pulled the covers over herself; she could smell the faint scent of Dakkben still clinging onto the covers. It was at that point, she realized, she was in love with the superhuman.

**A/N: As you can see, the relationship between Dakkben and Tali is starting already. To answer some questions you might have, the reason why they both started to have feelings for eachother was mainly due to Dakkben protecting Tali, even going as far as allowing himself to be captured and tortured to give Tali a chance to escape. As for Dakkben's side, it was mainly Tali's selfless personality that drew him in since he was so used to the cruel treatments from Cerberus and on occasion some people due to his superhuman abilities.**

**Metabolisom issue with Levo/Dextro, I'm not saying that he would LIKE eating Dextro food, but he can survive on it if neccessary.  
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**And, no. Shepard did not give Slade his own captain quarters. I made it so that the Normandy have two crew quarters, one where the sleep pods are located, and another with a private room which Slade now have. Shepard STILL have his captain quarters.  
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**Also, check out my profile. I've now included a link to my deviant art page with a picture of Dakkben Slade. I'm currently working on a wallpaper cover for this fic, though.  
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**If you got any questions, send me an IM. ALSO, click that review button, its begging for it!**


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